Hola, Meteor readers,

I recently caught up on “And Just Like That,” and finally saw the episode where Steve gives Miranda a piece of his mind regarding their much-stalled divorce. As a SATC fan, one of my biggest issues with AJLT is the mistreatment of Steve’s character, and it really felt like his “This is my house” speech was vindication for the hours of Steve-slander I’ve had to endure. Give that man an Emmy. But more importantly, give the writer who penned that monologue a fair wage.

In today’s newsletter, we take a look at Lizzo’s response to the lawsuit against her, offer some good reading for your weekend, and hear from an actual hero, Farkhunda Muhtaj, who helped evacuate teen soccer players from Afghanistan.

Typing from Steve’s house,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Truth hurts: As you’ve certainly been made aware of by now, on Tuesday, three of Lizzo’s former dancers filed a lawsuit against the singer, her production company, and her dance captain. The lawsuit painted a picture of a hostile work environment, rife with racist and fat-phobic comments, an “excruciating” 12-hour audition in which one dancer soiled herself, and the now-infamous instance in which a dancer was allegedly pressured to eat a banana out of a nude performer’s genitals.

Lizzo posted her response this morning, and the messaging was…well, pretty much exactly what we’ve come to expect from celebrities called out on their behavior. In fact, there’s already a term for it, coined by Dr. Jennifer J. Freyd—DARVO: Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. Here are some examples straight from Lizzo’s post:

• Deny: “Usually I choose not to respond to false allegations but these are as unbelievable as they sound,”

• Attack: “These sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional.”

• Reverse Victim and Offender: “My character has been criticized.” “I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be.” “I’m hurt but I will not let the good work I’ve done in the world be overshadowed by this.”

This is a well-worn roadmap. But seeing it used by this person, this time, stings. Lizzo represented so many things that felt new: self-celebration, body positivity, sexual liberation—wonderful qualities that people on the right have tried to “cancel” her for time and time again.

She had a chance to do something different and new in her response, too—like address the charges with empathy and humility, rather than taking a page from the DARVO playbook and putting her hurt feelings first. But as a singer once sang, people are only great until they’ve gotta be great.

AND:

• A health crisis you wouldn’t expect is on the rise. Public pools across the U.S. have been unable to open due to staffing shortages, leaving urban communities with one less tool to fight the extreme heat.

• The WGA has been on strike for nearly 14 weeks now, and for the first time since the strike began, representatives from the Guild will be heading back to the negotiation table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Let’s hope the AMPTP is bringing a checkbook

• Still not sure what to do when your student loan provider comes knocking on your door for repayment? The good news is, you may be able to ignore them for another year.

• WNBA star Brittney Griner—who was wrongfully detained in Russia last year—is taking a break from basketball after playing 20 games in the WNBA’s regular season. Griner is scheduled to miss two games to focus on her mental health.

• Hijarbie is back.

FLEEING AFGHANISTAN

“The World Has Stopped Paying Attention”

The soccer captain behind We Are Ayenda is still working to free the women of her home country.

BY THE METEOR TEAM

FARKHUNDA MUHTAJ SPEAKING TO PRESS AFTER MEMBERS OF THE AFGHANISTAN YOUTH TEAM WERE GRANTED ASYLUM IN PORTUGAL. (IMAGE BY HORACIO VILLALOBOS VIA GETTY IMAGES)

In August 2021, with the world’s eyes on Afghanistan, the teenage soccer players on that country’s Under-18 Women’s National Team left their homes and began a weeks-long journey to evacuate from their country. The experience of these players—many of whom now live in Portugal and compete as Ayenda, which means “future” in Farsi—is the subject of not one but two films this month, the first of which, We Are Ayenda, is out now on Amazon Prime. The second, Ayenda, will be available on Peacock later this summer.

We talked to the extraordinary person who led the girls through the rescue process—not an intelligence officer, but a then-23-year-old Afghan-Canadian soccer player, Farkhunda Muhtaj, the captain of the Afghan Women’s National Team.

The Meteor: The film shows your day-by-day work evacuating the youth team from Afghanistan. How did you come to be the person entrusted with the job to begin with?

Farkhunda Muhtaj: Because I was the captain [of the women’s national team] and I also lived abroad…I was very much trusted from individuals within Afghanistan. And so I think immediately when they needed help, they turned to me. The women’s department secretary…reached out and said to me that Canada was supporting 20,000 Afghans and could I help get the families to either Canada or any other kind of safe nation.

What impressed you the most about the girls as they navigated the process of trying to leave the country?

I would say their courage and determination and resilience for sure. The girls really went through hell. They were trusting me blindly—they didn’t know what the next move was, where they were headed, why they were headed [to] a certain location, who they were waiting for, and how they were going to get into the airport and out of the country. But they risked everything and…whether it took them ten tries, 20 tries, traveling all over the region in order to [find a safe way out], they were doing that. And it’s not easy for a 15- or 16-year-old girl to…convince their family that this is the best way out. At the time there was a lot of fraud; it was hard to trust anyone.

And what really impressed me was their sisterhood as well, the fact that they recognized that they weren’t the only ones trying to leave Afghanistan.

MEMBERS OF THE YOUTH TEAM ALONG WITH THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS IN PORTUGAL. (IMAGE BY HORACIO VILLALOBOS VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

You’re now living in Europe, and because the Taliban has banned women from playing sports, you’re not allowed to play for your home country. What are your hopes for your own future, and for the future of other Afghan women athletes? 

Just to quickly give you some context: I was a student-athlete in university. I was the captain of the women’s soccer team there. And afterward I wanted to continue my education, so I completed my Bachelor of Education [at] a teacher’s college in Canada, and became a science and high school teacher. Now I’ve decided to go pro [and play for Fortuna Sittard in the Netherlands]—it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was younger, but I realized that the girls saw me as a role model. And so I [went pro] just to show the girls that, you know, it doesn’t matter that we’re from Afghanistan, a war-torn country; we’re just as capable as any other European, any other American or Canadian. And what I want for other Afghan women athletes is the same journey that I took: They deserve to be educated. They deserve to have the right to play football, and we deserve to represent our country. I want us to be able to represent and officially compete in FIFA competitions once again. Of course, since the Taliban took over, they have banned that.

Beyond sport, I hope that Afghan women can be educated again. But we’re kind of out of time. It’s been two years already. The situation in Afghanistan is only getting worse, not better.

Yes—there’s a moment in We Are Ayenda when you say that you knew [in 2021] that you had to get the girls out quickly because the world was paying attention—and that it might stop. Two years later, has the world stopped paying attention?

Absolutely. The world has stopped watching. Right when the Taliban had taken over Afghanistan, people cared—partly because the U.S.’s reputation was on the line as well. People cared and were very anxious about what the future of Afghanistan might look like. But after the war in Ukraine happened—and nothing against Ukraine, they deserve all the attention and care—everyone forgot about Afghanistan. And you really saw how Afghans were treated compared to Ukrainians…When I was trying to help [evacuate] Afghans and vulnerable communities [after evacuating the players], no country seemed to have space. But as soon as other issues around the world happened, they had the budget; they had the space; they had the time. It was really disheartening for me. It was something I didn’t expect from the global community.

And so the world has stopped paying attention. In Afghanistan, women are just there trying to [gain access to] education. I think the most powerful tool is education. Once you’re educated, you’re aware of your rights and responsibilities, and the fact that women cannot be educated shows that they’re trying to silence them. And if our mothers, our sisters, our daughters are not being educated, then what can we expect for the future generations of Afghanistan? I don’t think it’s going to turn out well at all.

But Afghanistan has been in a desperate situation for decades. And regardless of that, our generations continue to thrive. So although we want the global community to act and be a part of the change and help us, we are also very much trying to do our best to help from within.

WEEKEND READS 📚

On the NFL: “It’s not every day a group of women defeat a white billionaire man.” But for the women who sued former Commanders’ owner Dan Snyder, that day is here. (The Athletic)

On cool kids: A 10-year-old girl threw a water balloon at a local politician from 100 feet away. She got him right in the back of the head and he was so impressed, he suggested she should be playing for the Yankees. So the Yankees invited her for a game. (The Washington Post)

On BookTok: Smutty. Hockey. Drama. Need we say more? (The Cut)

On climate: The heat isn’t only on land. Unda the sea, an “astonishing” heat wave has been lethal for marine life. (The New York Times)

This newsletter was written by Shannon Melero and Bailey Wayne Hundl.

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