Hope Solo on Equal Pay Suit: ‘We’re Not Being Greedy, We’re Just Fighting for What’s Right’

Members of the United States women’s national soccer team have had enough. In April, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo filed a wage discrimination action with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation. “We’re not being greedy, we’re just fighting for what’s right,” Solo, the team’s goalkeeper, said on The Daily Show Wednesday night.

The players’ equal pay battle was parodied in a clip by Hasan Minhaj, who sat down with Solo, Sauerbrunn, and their teammate Ali Krieger. Minhaj, a senior correspondent for the Comedy Central news program, elucidated the discrepancies in compensation between the women’s and men’s team through the art of sarcasm. For example, the men made it to the round of 16 in the World Cup, while the women have won three titles; the men are ranked 30th in the world, and the women are first; the men lost $2 million for the federation, and the women brought in $17 million in profit; the men earn $17,000 each for winning a match, and the women get $1,300; if their team loses, the men get $5,000 each and the women get nothing.

Helping the female soccer players get their due is Billie Jean King. The tennis star, who has spent decades campaigning for equality in women’s sports, tackles Minhaj’s satirical suggestion that all the USWNT has to do is defeat the men in a battle of the sexes, just as King did in 1973 against Bobby Riggs, to accomplish their goal. “It wasn’t easy-peasy, man,” she said. “When I played Bobby Riggs, that was about social change.” At the time King played Riggs, women were being paid one-eighth as much as men. Today, that’s decreased to one-quarter. Improvement? Not so much. “We’re supposed to be so happy if we get one crumb. … We deserve the cake, the icing, and the cherry on top, just like the boys.”

This isn’t the first time The Daily Show has shown support for the USWNT. After news of the suit broke, Trevor Noah said the team has been “kicking ass all over the place, except in the accounting department.” The host went on to compare the men to Jason Mraz and the women to Beyoncé, putting it into terms everyone could understand. Get it now?

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