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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office made light of U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon announcing the state had violated Title IX by allowing trans athletes to compete in girls sports with a controversial social media post on Wednesday.
Just hours after McMahon’s announcement of the violations and an ultimatum of 10 days for the state to amend its policies, Newsom’s press office X account mocked McMahon with an old clip of her being body-slammed during a WWE skit.
The clip was of current Knox County Mayor Glenn Thomas Jacobs, also known as “Kane,” hitting McMahon with move known as the “tombstone piledriver” during an episode of “Monday Night Raw” in the early 2000s.
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McMahon, as the wife of WWE founder Vince McMahon, has been heavily involved in the wrestling entertainment product for decades. She even led the WWE organization as CEO.
However, Newsom’s office making light of the Title IX violation announcement with a clip of McMahon’s WWE past prompted severe backlash.
Many critics pointed out that the clips depicts a man physically overpowering a woman, which is often centered as one of the most common arguments against letting biological males compete in girls and women’s sports.
“So a man easily destroying a woman is how you want to relay that boys belong in girls sports?” one X user wrote.
Another critical user wrote, “Thanks for proving our point. Men are stronger than women. I can’t believe you actually posted this display of male violence.”
Several prominent women’s rights activists and groups made separate posts speaking out against Newsom’s office over the joke.
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McMahon said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday that California would be at risk of losing its federal funding for its K-12 schools if the requirements are not met.
A press release by the U.S. Department of Education states that California’s high school sports league, the CIF and the California Department of Education (CDE) have 10 days to amend their policy or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Newsom responded to the Education Department later Wednesday.
“It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California. Now Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won’t stick,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Fox News Digital.
The CIF said it didn’t comment on legal matters.
“The California Department of Education believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school, and we have consistently applied existing law in support of students’ rights to do so,” Liz Sanders, director of communications at the California Department of Education, told Fox News Digital.
Newsom previously talked about transgender participation in girls sports back in March with prominent conservative Charlie Kirk.
“The young man who’s about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports, that shouldn’t happen,” Kirk said. “You, as the governor, should step out and say no. Would you do something like that? Would you say no men in female sports?”
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“I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair,” Newsom told Kirk. “I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.”
Kirk pressed Newsom on whether he would condemn the athlete in question from Jurupa Valley High School after the athlete won another event at the time. Newsom did not directly address the win but said, “It’s a fairness issue.”
“So, that’s easy to call out the unfairness of that,” he said. “There’s also a humility and a grace. … These poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression. And the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with as well.
“So, both things I can hold in my hand. How can we address this issue with the kind of decency that I think, you know, is inherent in you but not always expressed on the issue?”
Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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