Tennis legend\u00a0Martina Navratilova\u00a0said in a video advertisement that she would not defect to the United States if today\u2019s situation were around when she left Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n
Navratilova made the video for \u201cHome of the Brave,\u201d an online community launched earlier this year that labels itself as a place for those who have been \u201churt by the\u00a0Trump administration.\u201d Navratilova has been a longtime critic of Trump.<\/p>\n
In the video, Navratilova hinted at similarities she has seen between today\u2019s United States and the Communist country she grew up in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI defected from a totalitarian regime, and like hell am I going to be cowed again, and have to be careful about what I say. I grew up in a Communist country, Czechoslovakia. So I know what it looks like and feels like to live in a totalitarian regime where you cannot speak your mind, or worse, put in prison for political opinions. I\u2019m so proud to be an American, but I\u2019m embarrassed for what Trump is doing to our country,\u201d Navratilova said to begin the video.<\/p>\n
Tennis legend\u00a0Martina Navratilova\u00a0said in a video advertisement that she would not have defected to the United States if today\u2019s situation had existed when she left Czechoslovakia. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI am p\u2014-d off as hell about people capitulating to Trump. Whether it\u2019s legal firms, schools, politicians, or companies, we are too big to fail. If we stand together but are divided, we fall. And that\u2019s what Trump is counting on. Chaos, fear. This was the freest country in the world when I defected in 1975. If this was the situation for me now, I would definitely not choose to live here.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy fear is that people are just too complacent, too scared, and thinking they don\u2019t matter. And we all matter. As a tennis player, you\u2019re used to fighting. You have to fight for every point, and it kind of gives you that backbone. I will not be quiet. Not speaking out equals resignation, and that\u2019s just unacceptable. When you leave a totalitarian regime and you come to a freedom-loving country, of course you have to speak up. Speaking out is the patriotic thing to do. When you see something wrong, don\u2019t be afraid. You can find things to make a difference. Democracy is never finished, but my God, we need to fix it. Keep protesting, and pay attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Navratilova and Trump attend her clothing line launch party on Sept. 10, 1990 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/p>\n
One political issue that Navratilova has sided with Trump on, however, is transgender athletes in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports. Navratilova has long been outspoken that girls and women should not play against biological males.<\/p>\n
Last December, she said she was \u201cmad\u201d that Republicans had tackled the nationwide controversy over trans athletes in women\u2019s sports instead of the Democrats.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I am so mad that\u00a0the Republicans\u00a0captured this issue \u2013 shame on all the elected Democrats who keep silent on this!!! #whataboutthewomen,\u201d she wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Navratilova in Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, on the occasion of the 107th anniversary of the independent Czechoslovak state. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n
The tennis legend appeared at the Independent Women\u2019s Forum\u2019s \u201cTake Back Title IX\u201d rally in June to address the issue, where she claimed she was a \u201chomophobe\u201d despite being \u201cout since \u201981.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018You\u2019re a bigot, you\u2019re a transphobe, you\u2019re a Nazi, you\u2019re a fascist, you\u2019re a communist,\u2019 everything and everything in between. And this is coming from the left. I am the left! My people are turning on me. They\u2019re turning on us, women, who speak up for women\u2019s sex-based rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox News\u2019 Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennis legend\u00a0Martina Navratilova\u00a0said in a video advertisement that she would not defect to the United States if today\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":439719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[14609,69,50638,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-439718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-czech-republic","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-martina-navratilova","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115700072818696894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}