‘Look at all the moments in history’: Brandi Kruse defends XX-XY protest that got her kicked out of Thorns match

John Curley, host of “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio, began his interview with Brandi Kruse on a lighthearted note.

“You’ve been thrown out of more places than Bobby Knight,” Curley joked. “Can’t you go to some sporting event and not have people throw beer on you and hit you in the head with flags?”

Kruse, a former political reporter who now hosts “unDivided,” spoke with Curley days after Thorns security removed her from Providence Park. She and a group of women had revealed XX-XY Athletics shirts in the supporters’ section, and fans allegedly hit the group with flagpoles, according to Seattle Red 770 AM.

XX-XY Athletics is an apparel brand that argues sports should be divided by biological sex. The Justice Department said it was reviewing the incident, and the Thorns have not publicly explained why the group was removed.

Performative in nature

Curley asked Kruse the question her critics have been asking all weekend.

“Does this help the cause to have you dragged out? Did you go there hoping this would happen?” Curley questioned.

Kruse acknowledged the group planned to go to the game and stand in their shirts, but said the outcome depended entirely on how others reacted.

“Of course it was staged in terms of us deciding to go there and stand there in our T-shirts,” Kruse admitted. “But all they have to do is not react violently.”

“Had they just sort of been like, ‘Yeah, they have a political shirt on, no big deal. I disagree with it, but I’m an adult,’ then I think it would have kind of stopped in its tracks,” Kruse added.

Curley then asked if the reaction from the fans around her ultimately helps the XX-XY movement. Kruse compared it to the civil rights movement.

“I mean, look at all the moments in history where things have been done to make a point. You know, Blacks eating at a diner counter, Rosa Parks on the bus. You know, all of these things throughout history,” Kruse said. “Things that are performative in nature and designed to make a point, and that’s what we’re doing.”

First Amendment issue

Curley offered advice for those who disagree with the XX-XY movement.

“As my father used to say, don’t give him the reaction; he’ll stop teasing you,” Curley reflected. “If you had just been able to sit there and enjoy the game, and no one said anything, then it would have been fine.”

Kruse believes being removed from the match creates a First Amendment issue.

“This is such a common sense issue, and now on top of it, it’s a First Amendment issue. It’s an issue about truth fundamentally. So those are things I care a lot about: the First Amendment and truth,” Kruse declared.

XX-XY at WNBA games

The movement drew headlines in July after two girls sat courtside wearing XX-XY shirts. The Seattle Storm apologized for comments made toward the girls by Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton. In the aftermath, Spike O’Neill, host of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, pointed out how the behavior goes against the team’s mantra of “inclusivity.”

“They’re in the most inclusive environment in the city of Seattle, which is a Seattle Storm game,” Spike said. “No one should speak ill to them, curse at them, poke at them, someone spit at them, I heard. Someone said they were tripped as they were trying to leave. It doesn’t speak to inclusivity at all. It was out of bounds. Completely inappropriate.”

Since this incident, the XX-XY movement has attended other WNBA games, according to Kruse.

“I’ve been to multiple games, WNBA games, where I wasn’t harassed or anything for wearing my shirt,” Kruse clarified. “I watched the game, I wore my shirt, and it was no big deal. We posted pictures about how fun it was, what a good time we had.”

Forced removal

Kruse told Curley she still does not understand why her group was removed from the stadium.

“Why would I just get up and leave when I haven’t done anything wrong?” Kruse said. “I think at some point you have to kind of stand against that, right?”

Kruse believes everyone should be concerned about the “mob mentality.”

“Some of them are just there as soccer fans. They’re not professional activists,” Kruse said. “But they just joined in the condemnation and the anger and the vitriol, and they don’t seem to understand how dangerous that is.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The John Curley Show” weekdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.

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