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Junelle Bromfield faces hate from Jamaica—Is this how we should treat our sports heroes?
Noah Lyles‘ Jamaican girlfriend, Junelle Bromfield has been through the thick of cyberbullying recently. While multiple reasons added to the hate train, it first escalated when Lyles aired a statement on the Track World News podcast.“I have been getting the drama from Jamaican camps for at least five years now,” were the words that proved detrimental to Bromfield’s reputation. While it seemed a ghastly move back then, in retrospect today, Bromfield sees why the remark got the reactions it did.
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On the Sim Soul Sessions podcast, the host touched upon the ramifications that Lyles’ statement had for Junelle Bromfield. While citing how Junelle literally had to detach herself from the socials, the host also points out that the Jamaican athlete once said she understands why people acted out about this but not the level of baseness they had gotten to. Answering that, Bromfield clarified that she still understands how passionate Jamaicans are about the sport. But perhaps a particular line of the larger clip spiraled into this huge controversy, “I have seen the clips that have been circulating, and for people who did not go and watch the full footage, I see why they would be mad.”
This is because these people have watched the footage of others saying, “Oh, Junelle talk about Shelly-Ann and talk about Elaine”, but the truth is “Noah didn’t say anything about Shelly-Ann or Elaine in the podcast.” She then points out that the podcast has a mere 3.1K following, and even now, it has not received as much attention as when the “whole statement was blown out of proportion.” Thus, she remarks, “I could say I understand now, why they were mad, because celebrities were talking about it and they did not go and watch the actual footage of what was said.”
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The key bits that had riled up Jamaican fans included Noah Lyles mentioning about Junelle training in MVP and then adding how he he knows a lot of information that others don’t. Although he did not really touch upon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Lyles did bring up Elaine Thompson-Herah. And it was in the context of how she and Junelle used to be joined at the hip when they trained together in 2021. Well, another Jamaican had found mention in Lyles references— Shericka Jackson. He had unveiled how Junelle Bromfield is still very close with Shericka. But, that was in the context of how Bromfield was seen doing Jackson’s hair and being her ‘wig woman’ in the Sprint docuseries.
Intense training
Natural talent
Mental toughness
Support from her team
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But, the video that went viral did not include all these other discussion brackets from the podcast. It’s about Lyles citing he has the Jamaican insights, which got Junelle labeled as a traitor. And although, she may have cut the Jamaicans some slack in this one incident, but she looks in no mood to forgive this time.
Cyber bullying may have embedded a fear in Junelle Bromfield
Things like wishing somebody’s leg gets broken mid race while they are running at the Olympics, or keeping them away from their homeland via death threats cannot be happenstance. They require strong reasons. And the alleged traitor charger on Junelle Bromfield are just a part of the bigger picture. But at the end of the day, it’s Junelle whose reality is now tainted with these spots. And even though there are Jamaicans who agree that they owe her an apology, or that such instances are shameful, the fact is that Junelle is still scared of going home.
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And she may not be ready to put in behind her already. In fact, she stands solid ground that she has done nothing wrong. “Honestly, I would say I’m not looking for forgiveness, especially from the people who came in my DM, talking about my family, talking about my mom.” While she says that such people are asking her to ask for forgiveness, she is clear in her mind, “How are you going to forgive somebody who did not do anything?”
Especially in cases where she got hate for her skin color, its crystal clear that Junelle had nothing to do with it. All she had was disbelief, “I honestly thought we were past colorism in Jamaica especially as a nation that is filled with black people..” she wrote in one of her posts. Thus, on these issues, she might disagree. But Bromfield has given the Jamaicans the benefit of doubt regarding Noah Lyles’ statement, for many of them apparently hadn’t listened to the whole podcast. What do you think of this? Let us know below!
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Tanveen Kaur Lamba 323 Articles One Take at a Time
Tanveen Kaur Lamba is a budding Olympics Writer at EssentiallySports. After crafting 1000+ articles in various fields, she has finally found her calling for sports journalism. She is a versatile writer covering sports like track and field, swimming, surfing, and wrestling.
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