as a kid I straight up thought tiger woods k*lled someone bc of the amount of hate he got, and while an affair is definitely not a good thing, It's not as bad as what I thought happened growing up.
Same I literally thought Tigerwood’s had domestic charges like Floyd Mayweather. An affair is bad but for him to lose sponsorships it’s really sad considering his whole identity was attached to playing golf.
Idk why but my young brain assumed he and OJ Simpson were on the same level just due to the sensationalization of it all. When people discussed the "massive" divorce payout I didn't get why the amount was so contested (still kinda don't) and so much hate was directed at Elin, like??? excuse me, what did she do to deserve the disdain for getting financial coverage for the damages to care for the children and separate from her husband?
while i don’t condone cheating whatsoever i find it interesting that i’ve known since i was like 7 that he cheated but am just now at 21 finding out about how horrifyingly racist so many people were to him. interesting how that worked.
i mean...intuit it. if they're non white, and ESPECIALLY if they're black, they have experienced racism. period. if they're famous, someone has said some shit that was completely out of pocket at some point.
As a mixed race person, I am SCREAMING that Tiger said "calling me exclusively one race erases most of my identity" - which is the most Universal mixed race sentiment I hear constantly and experience myself - made people mock him to the point that he never mentioned his race again. Devastating 💔
I can see clear vietnamese traits in his facial structure. No doubt his mum brought a lot of her own culture into how he was raised and their family life.
The problem was that in that statement it was meant in defense to denounce his blackness. And speaking as a black person is a very sensitive subject especially with mixed race people who are black
@@tstamper1651a no, saying hey I'm also half Vietnamese was not denouncing his blackness. That's the problem, when ur mixed everyone thinks they have a say in how you choose to identify. Why not just listen and stop politicizing the real life identities and experiences of people. At the end of day, what every identity people choose to focus on or feel closer to is based on a multitude of factors that have nothing to do with anyone else and it's for them to decide.
@@JD-uj5cp you’re speaking from you’re experience in being mixed I’m speaking from the context of the conversation he was having with Oprah. And to add unless you understand the history of black people in this country you probably wont understand how that would be him denouncing being black
I’m actually confused about the level of hate, he’s considered a sportsman/athlete yet so many athletes have and continue to cheat. In fact its more shocking when they haven’t so why people acted like he killed someone is beyond me. Cheating is wrong but the level of media hate was unfathomable.
Also that speech when he came back in that golf tournament, like was any of that necessary? The dude acts like he committed mass murder. He didn't cheat on you dude, you're not his wife.
Especially because there are star athletes who have killed or injured people! The discussion about how celebrities can get away with things that average people can't... it's important but maybe Tiger wasn't the one we needed to focus on
It’s so similar to the Williams sisters being ridiculed for “aggressive play” in tennis - incredibly white, wealthy, and conservative sports like golf and tennis say they hold their athletes to a “higher standard”, but it’s really the poc athletes that are publicly shamed for behavior in their private lives
I'm just speculating, but my guess would be that Tiger was the Michael Jordan of golf. Dude was an icon, and many saw him as this infallible, quiet, stoic figure that showed up, kicked ass, and stayed humble. Knowing that he was just another cheating athlete I think hurt a lot of people more deeply than they would have for other public figures. Imagine if Michael Jordan had a cheating scandal. I think it would have been just as big of a deal.
@@JabadamazoI agree. Also golf isn't just for anyone (unfortunately). There's a certain imagine associated with golf. And he brought shame to the sport.
Oh race was definitely a factor. And as a result of him being upheld as the token black role model, I think we subconsciously got so attached to him, his image and his impact that it almost hurt a lot people to see this scandal. It was innate desire to see him succeed until the end of his career, and to live the rest of his life in peace as proof of a good life. I still feel oddly sad and betrayed by the affairs, and felt this overwhelming sense of prideful tears when he bounced back. I didn't even follow him that closely, but it's clear people truly and deeply believed in him. And most people understood the sacrifices he made to get there, and just hoped he would be nothing but rewarded for it. But I can imagine the pressure to perform when being put so high on a pedestal. We basically mythologised him as a legend in the making, and I don't imagine it was fair nor healthy to have done that.
And also because Elin was a white woman….I would bet everything that if he cheated on his wife and she was a black woman he wouldn’t have been as hated.
Not the same at all, but to some degree it reminds me of the recent "wife guy" scandals. Because we expect so little of white men due to toxic masculinity and the patriarchy, when we see them in the public eye seeming to be "wife guys" and good partners it feels similar to the way you described. We like to believe in "wife guys" the same way we wanted to believe in Tiger. So, when we see things like what happened with Tiger or John Mulany/the Try Guys we feel hurt because we build them up so much because of our parasocial relationships.
@@froggy_6716 This take isn't relevant though because he clearly isn't interested in Asian or Black women. It was sensationalised because he was so successful and disciplined.The contrast is intriguing.
Hey, great video! I think the Tiger Woods backlash had a lot to do with tokenism. He was a representative for POC and specifically black people in this predominantly white sport. Tiger couldn't just be the best golfer, he had to be the best black man, while white golfers didn't have to be crucified for their infidelities, Tiger did because he was much more than just a golfer, he was a black golfer. I know it's too late to wish you luck on your exam, but luck might work retroactively because its magic or something, anyway good luck and enjoy your holiday!
@@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024sorry late reply but, genuinely, as a non-American I’m not sure what else to call the collective non-white population without calling them “non-whites” or “POC”.
@@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024 as a black person, I think using POC is okay in context. If someone is referring to non-white people collectively, it makes sense. Its only when its used passively, esp by a white person, when it becomes the problem bc its a minimization and seems to be group all brown people together as a monolith.
There is something so messed up about his dads friend admitting how they potentially screwed tigers perception of relationships years after. Like “damn I really messed you up, sorry kid.”
I remember being like five and watching golf with my brother because we thought tiger woods was cool (his name was tiger! Tiger woods! That's such a fun name) and we were both very disappointed to hear about his affairs. I don't think we knew what 'affair' meant but we were very disappointed
This, I get. His name was cool. I was briefly less inclined to think gold was boring while Tiger Woods was the star everyone talked about, because I was a kid and he was cool. And then people just wanted to talk about the scandal, not him or golf, so I lost interest. But wasn’t Bill Clinton first? I feel like the whole Monica Lewinsky thing was a bigger presence in my childhood. Mom was mad some academic certificate I got had Bill Clinton on it and said it was too bad I got it while he was president.
To be honest I think the name was what made me care as a kid…. Can’t name any other golfer (except Arnold Palmer cause of the drink thing) but just the iconicness of the name tiger woods stuck in my mind
I was there for Tiger’s 1997 Masters win, in a funny way. I was a teen working as a waitress at a golf country club - members only, also only open to 55+ ages (most were much older, and born in the 1910s-20s). For tv events like the Superbowl, the Masters, etc we held all day luncheons. I was there when Tiger won and it was SILENT in that banquet hall. Well, some low mumbling as well. I was so happy. I’d taken the members’ shit for a while and it was so fun to watch their happiness get extinguished by a new generation and their pride slapped by a person who was not white. And I suppose the Masters’ green blazer is probably one size fits all so the winner can don the jacket while on air, but the oversized fit on Tiger made it seem like he won something that they really wanted to give to someone else. Haha on all of you olds, it felt like on that day.
What was bizzare to me was that as a teenager from the middle of Europe (where golf doesn’t matter as much) the affairs were the ONLY thing i knew about him.
Same, I had no idea who this guy was, I thought the story blew up like this because he didn't just cheat with one woman but had this whole harem and extreme sex addiction apparently.
I only knew who he was from those old PGA golf games on games consoles. I had one for some reason that must have come with a PlayStation as a bundle. I think it's sad that he's only known widely for his affairs rather than his incredible work ethic and talent as a sportsman.
@@RykerJones28 he cheated with over 100 woman that’s not normal or just an affair. If he cheated with over 100 men you would think he’d be deserve of loosing his career and sponsorships. Hypocrite
i love how unique the topics you choose for your videos are! i can never predict them and always learn something new. your channel has totally got me in a chokehold
I was nine when this scandal happened and my family had a xbox golfing game where Tiger was a playable character. And after the affair happened my dad wouldn’t let me play as Tiger anymore. I didn’t know anything about the affair, so I just assumed he did something horrible. This is all so weird in retrospect.
I grew up in the same social circles as Tiger’s ex-wife, Elin, and his children, as my mom and I are Swedes living in Florida. I remember being 7 years old attending a Swedish holiday event, Sankta Lucia, Tiger and Elin just announced their divorce and this event that’s usually super small and filled with families that have known each other for decades had to go on high alert and lockdown the extra entrances to prevent the paparazzi from getting in and taking photos of Elin and her children, she also had two or three security guards physically surround her and her kids at all times . Even that young I understood how horrible the media scrutiny was for their entire family… you could see how tired they were from being hounded constantly by the press and nobody deserves fearing for their children’s lives, their own lives, and even the life of their ex spouse.
When I was younger I dead ass thought Elin had wrecked his car with a golf club and was completely unaware of the car accident-I thought she did all of the damage not that tree lmao shows you how messed up the media coverage was :,(
Fantastic video!!! As someone who's a golf fan (kind of) this was an incredibly thorough and nuanced analysis of why Tiger got a disproportionate amount of hatred compared to other golfers and famous people who had affairs.
Why are you in my mind!! I was just talking with my mom the other day about how weird the amount of hate he got was. He obviously did a bad thing but as a little kid I remember thinking this guy was straight up evil from the way that the media talked about him.
as some ppl have already echoed in the comments, i legit thought he murdered ppl at first bcuz of how “scandalous” the controversy was 😭 i feel like im in the minority when i say this scandal went through one ear & out the other also i was just thinking abt u & wondering if u took the bar exam yet, & then i saw u posted this vid 💕 have fun on ur break! u deserve to kick back!
Fantastic video. I think you nailed it. I also wanted to add, as someone who has lived in a number of places (including famous golf locations like Augusta and Hilton Head) and likes to golf that class and misogyny does have a ton to do with the background of golf as a whole. While i used to be able to golf a bit and owned my own clubs, those locations always had a huge barrier to entry in an already expensive sport. Not needing club rentals my dad and I couldn't afford a day of golfing, and I would have had to buy clothes just to be allowed to use the course at Augusta. Compare that to a city in central Texas where my dad and i could afford to golf enough that we both had our own clubs, and i could wear anything (which was nice in the heat to not be forced into a tennis skirt and polo). Augusta is especially ridiculous about it's golf, they still seem at least to me, to try to keep it as rich white and male as possible. They even raise restaurant prices at a lot of places during masters week so it really effects the whole city, and that's not even mentioning traffic or that most local schools have to have spring break at the same time. Anyway, that's enough of my boring essay. I loved the video, super well researched!
I used to live in the neighborhood where Woods rented a house during the Masters and the amount of paparazzi there was during those years was absolutely wild. I remember when I was a kid and some shady TMZ-like person tried to talk to my friend and me once about it. It was so wild and really shook Augusta. I remember thinking that he must have done more than just cheat considering the way people were acting.
That was the era of the news where they would fixated on one story for months, I still remember when Anna Nicole smith died and Michael Jackson because of the obsession the news had with those stories.
my dad actually loved golf so i also loved it and was very familiar w tiger as a child. i remember being shocked seeing the tabloid photos of him cheating in the grocery store magazines.
this is so interesting! i really feel bad for the guy. he has dealt with a lot and worked his ass off. being a poc in the golf world is a bit if a nightmare
hi ashley! i just wanted to say how much i appreciate your knack and ability for explaining and sharing your thoughts around pop culture events. i find you have a certain penchant for doing it in a way that doesn't feel purely like listing facts off a wikipedia page. you're able to tie these specific events back to larger themes about humanity and society. watching your videos, especially on topics that i know nothing about but you still manage to make it interesting, is really fascinating to me! thanks for doing what you do! :D
I had seen another video that delved into his childhood and backstory a bit more and it very much makes sense that tiger woods wanted to lash out after being so controlled for so long by his parents and holding up the expectations of the public. Not only that but having to watch his dad cheat on his mom over and over and over and watch his mom stay with him definitely affected his outlook on romantic relationships. I really do think tiger was a product of his environment which is sad.
I'm your age and live in a country where golf isn't really a thing, but when I was younger I imagined Tiger Woods was probably the worst human being alive. His name was everywhere.
clicked this so quickly! you're honestly my favourite youtuber, you have such calm vibes but such an engaging way of speaking and discussing topics. you're also so brilliant at finding interesting and relateable topics which havent already been covered a million times - your spring girls video is one of my favourite video essays, and this one also hits a similar niche of relateable but fresh (i remember this scandal so clearly!). also congrats on your first sponsor! i would have loved to purchase if they shipped to the uk, but im so excited to see your channel to continue to take off
I’m a big fan of Tiger and his achievements on Golf courses. It was nice for you to give a balanced view of what’s happened over the years. Check out the PNC where he played with Charlie Woods, that’s cute. Or maybe give the game a chance?
God the lack of self awareness in some people is genuinely impressive. 1990's fat old white guy, with a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other: "This young buff black man is out preforming me in feats of strength and endurance. He must be built different than me, a white man." Said young buff black man who's working out, doing cardio, eating well, not touching beer, not smoking, not doing drugs: "riiiiight"
Growing up I always heard jokes about how horrible tiger woods was but I never knew what he did so I just assumed he killed somebody until someone told me otherwise
1. I hope you did well on the bar and are having a great vacation. 2. If you get a chance maybe a video on dance academy? Lol, this is my hill I will die on 3. Can we take a second to address his dad being the poster stage parent and yet rarely getting flack like LiLo's mom, who was torn apart around the same time, or Kris Jenner now. Weird.
he didnt just cheat, he cheated over 100x on his wife. i think it was such a scandal because he made a big deal publicly of loving his wife (very Try Guy esque), and we were all happy and rooting for him to succeed. he seemed like an honest man with good values who deserved success.
All the dudes who claim to be a wife guy has been caught out cheating in the last decade or so, definitely a cover. By making it your whole personality you deserve the hate in my opinion. I definitely agree with you.
Great video, Ashley. Proud of you for getting sponsorships. Oddly, I think you undersold the racism aspect for why Tiger's affairs were such big news. Perhaps because of you being afraid of the potential comments you pre-empt saying "why bring race into this?". Or maybe it's due to the editing to include as much context at the start, that you didn't focus on it much after the affair. Or maybe its because you don't follow sports closely, so you aren't used to the disparity that darker-skin athletes are treated in the media to their white couterparts. Regardless, I think it's worth comparing treatment of Tiger Woods to other non-white sportspeople succeeding in traditionally white sports. The tennis player, Serena Williams, and the Formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton, are the most similar examples. All three of them dominated in a sport run primarily by white people (especially in the countries they grew up in). The moment someone of darker skin (regardless of their specific ethnicity) becomes notable, racist groups will use any situation to try to bring them down. The majority of the public isn't overtly maliciously racist, so these groups try to think of other reasons to discredit people. The most common tactic is to question their credibility, however, unlike other celebrities/professions, sports-people always have their win-record/success in their sport which makes the "they are incompetent/don't deserve to be here"-arguement not very persuasive to a general audience. Instead, racist groups will latch on to any potential controversy (inside and outside the sport) for ammo. For especially talented atheletes, these efforts usually fail. Tiger Woods many affairs, however, happened to be an act that most people believed was a bad thing. Even those who ultimately blamed Elin, his wife, for somehow causing Tiger's infidelity, rarely discount that what Tiger did was wrong. As such, the media machine further fueled the racist groups view that Tiger should be vilified into the mainstream view. Other white athletes can make the same mistakes and even generate a media fervour for a while, but without a dedicated group with the ulterior motive to keep villifying them for it (i..e the racist groups trying to take down a darker-skin athlete), these white athletes can easily weather the ordeal professionally. I'm honestly surprised Tiger Woods managed to return to the top of Golf, not because of his sporting talent (which was always incredible, even during the lows due to his psyche), but because of the racist groups who still bring up his affairs. Nevertheless, I loved the video otherwise. It's intteresting to hear your perspective as someone not interested in his sports prowess.
one of the regulars where i work always orders a “tiger woods”- a mixture of sweet tea and root beer. that was the only point of reference i had for tiger when i first came into this video
I remember this. I somehow got hold of a magazine that had an interview with the wife after it all went down, and it was my first time really being aware of a celebrity scandal.
I feel like a significant reason why he got so much attention for the affairs was, like you said, before all this is image had been "dorky". Like he was a super clean cut golf dad type. And then to find out he was secretly a "wild playboy", or whatever they called him, just kind of blew people's minds. Definitely doesn't excuse the racism and misogyny, but based on my memories of the time, the general consensus around me was like "damnnn tiger, you dog".
Dude I remember this so vividly because I asked my dad who was a big golf fan and even then he was pretty confused about the whole thing. He just shrugged and said it was probably because people outside of golf also knew him but it was also pretty blown out of proportion.
Being a kid in Sweden when this was happening I thought the news was just big here because she was Swedish, I didn’t understand that it was also a big thing in the US.
this has nothing to do with the video BUT scentbird is genuinely so great! I love that confessions of a rebel scent, they're one of my favorite perfume houses. Highly reccomend Love High. But yeah to anyone in the comments I'll vouch for that sponsor, it's actually really good
When I was in hs in the 2010’s there was a mutual friend that would brag about her mom abandoning her family to be one of Tiger’s gf’s. I always thought that was a weird flex lol
Such a fantastic video that just popped up on my feed because I'm a similar age to yourself at the time of Tiger. I have thought back a few times and wondered what made the world vilify him so much, this video is written excellently and I'm glad someone was able to explore these points
Would u think the same if he cheated on his wife with a ton of men instead of with ton of women like he did ? If not it just a double standard. I have a feeling that if he cheated with over 100 men your opinion of him as a person would be completely negative
okay he didn’t kill anyone through? cheating isn’t awesome. i’ve been cheated on. but like, god damn. the media really tore him apart. he’s just a guy, like the rest of us. we’re all just some dude. none of us are perfect. we’re all gray.
It’s a sport full of old white men, I don’t expect anything other than the treatment he received unfortunately. The silver lining is that Tiger made golf seem cool for a lot of young kids and probably brought the average age down lol
It's weird before this I distinctly remember seeing him on tv in a sports bar and my dad made a comment about his golf and affairs. That was everything I knew until right now; he plays golf and he has affairs.
great video ash!! such an original idea lol. i never would have expected someone to make a video about this but i significantly remember it happening in my childhood, to this day i can’t think tiger woods without thinking “the man that cheated on his wife” 💀
It’s so crazy this popped up on my recommended page because this was brought to my attention recently. Someone brought up Tiger Woods and I instinctively said “oh he’s a bad guy” and they asked “why?”. I hadn’t stopped to think about that in well over 10 years. I sorta faltered when I replied “He had affairs” like who cares? I remember hearing about Tiger Woods affairs all the way across the world on my island as a child, barely gasping the concept of golf, nevermind an affair. And yet that insane public reaction stuck with me so deeply that only now, a few weeks ago at 25 years old did I realize how ridiculous it all was. We don’t bat an eyelid when most celebrities and famous athletes get caught cheating so why was this so different?
Would u think the same if he cheated on his wife with a ton of men instead of with ton of women like he did ? If not it just a double standard. I have a feeling that if he cheated with over 100 men your opinion of him as a person would be completely negative and not who cares.
Hi! Your niche commentary vids are my favorite rn. Hope all is going well for you and I look forward to whatever you cover next. I will watch no matter the topic👍
a little surprised you didn’t go into his car accident at the end and his like ‘redemption’. especially since he hadn’t really been in the news for a while and suddenly it was like “will he live?”
Oh I remember this and I still don’t understand why people cared! Like I’m not saying he’s a hero for cheating and hearing how his ex was chasing him with a golf club is a hilarious visual, but like this story was something that should of just stayed in the realm of being joke on Saturday night live! It should of definitely not been a weeks long story!
Im 35 I had the tiger woods game for PS 2 and I loved playing it. It was actually a good game. Your video is spot on from what I remembered from back then
Another banger video ashley!! So good! I love how your videos are usually something i never knew i cared about. I definitely love this type of subject matter where its something big that happened in the media when i was younger but people have really moved on from it at this point. But revisiting it in the eyes of an adult and the current day perspective.. its very enlightening(??). Idk. I know im not accurately expressing that specific niche your videos fit into.. and how much they mean.. I mean who else can i go to for videos about tiger woods cheating, disney purity rings, american girl doll scandals, and of course, the classic “baking a sonic hedgehog cake”?!! Spectacular. Absolutely *chefs kiss*! Just please keep making whatever videos you think will be interesting, because those will always be good!
i know this video is kind of old now, but i grew up golfing a lot, my dad is a lifetime golfer, owns/operates golf courses as a career and is all in all passionate about it, he loves his job. i grew up around that and was taught to golf from a very young age well into my teens by my dad and honestly it is a pretty great sport in some ways, obviously horrible in others (water usage alone keeping grass green in the south). watching golf and tiger was a part of my life growing up, the cheating stuff always seemed a bit of a "show" to me on the news and i just want to thank you so much for this video, he is just a person like all of us doing his best, and his underdog arc was great to see. ty for your videos!
Tiger talking about how he didn't know what to pick on forms whether it be "African American" or "Asian" when it was neither and both at the same time was relevant then and will only continue to be more relevant. Our social construction of race is so narrow, similar to gender. I hope we will be able to have a more nuanced view of these topics in the future.
I was raised with golf, my dad moved to America to work in the golf business, I currently work in the golf business. Tiger was my absolute hero as a kid and when this happened I didn’t understand what he did but I was made fun of in school and actually told that my parents raised me wrong when I said he was my hero
i grew up with golf and he was my “favorite” as a kid (because of my dad) and it really was such a shock for 10 year old me i felt betrayed or something and i never forgave him for cheating LOL and i didn’t know that anyone else had felt that way
My boyfriend loves golf more than anything and he really looks up to Tiger Woods. When we first started dating, I had a really different opinion of Tiger than I do now. I agree with you, Ashley-this is an incredibly *human* story. This was a fun retrospective!
Omg I literally talked about this is in my commodification of black culture project for my cultural perspectives on mental health and illness final. Society’s habit of turning black culture into a commodity to profit off of and fetishized (athletics , fashion, food, music) but treat the originators, the creators, the ACTUALLY Black community like shit. Holding Black people at an unfair standpoint, resulting in harsher consequences for simple or petty, or even rash actions. The consequences is always worse. Like y’all think about it… cheating is never okay but… HE LOST BRAND ENDORSEMENTS????!!!????? LMAO WHAT??? Like If that’s what they Trynna do, then shit, let every man in sports and athletics or Hollywood and fame lose their endorsements, watch 95% of the whole industry go broke. It’s not about how much we “looked up” to tiger. Well yes, that counts too.. but the backlash was a result of American commodification of blackness.
For all the bad things Tiger Woods did, I still think it was unfair to shame him as a role model to people. He didn't ask to be a role model, he's here to golf. People love to put people they deem inspiring on a pedastal that they didn't ask to be put on. Cheating is bad no matter who does it, but Tiger Woods didn't start golfing so he could be a role model for people's "children and grandchildren."
The number of athletes that have multiple accusations of SA and domestic abuse made against and never face more than a slap on the wrist is what makes this so infuriating.
i mean way more people defended him and harassed his partner who was cheated on than the other way around, honestly the fact that he got any amount of backlash at all is surprising since most of the time people will die defending their favorite maIe athlete.
as a kid i remember hearing his wife smashed his windows in and beat him with the club giving him a black eye and breaking his arm. idk why i remember that so vividly.
It’s so funny that my aunts used to talk gossip to me as a kid and they’d talk about all the stuff they would read in their magazines and his affair was one of them. I don’t think my aunts knew who tiger woods was either lol
Good lord I remember this SO well and my experience with his affairs as a kid was so steeped in the racism and misogyny of those around me. I remember people talking so much about how the women he cheated with weren’t as pretty as his wife. Wild.
