Do politics and sports mix? Several hundred thousand college football fans will find out today.
UltraViolet Action, a women’s advocacy group, will fly planes above five games towing banners that read “Trump Says Women R Pigs. Disagree? Vote,” according to an email from the organization. From UltraViolet cofounder Shaunna Thomas:
Donald Trump is a sexist whose toxic misogynistic rhetoric has no place in our political system – let alone in the White House. Not only does he publicly insult women, he actually brags about it – and this should tell every voter in the country all they need to know about Donald Trump and how he would govern. Trump’s anti-woman history is so long that we couldn’t even fit a small percentage of it onto these planes.
The banners will fly over games in swing states, at some of the biggest sports arenas in the world: University of Michigan’s stadium in Ann Arbor (capacity: 109,901); Ohio State’s stadium in Columbus (104,944); University of Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium(70,585); Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (69,172), where Temple plays; and Wallace Wade Stadium (33, 941) in Durham, N.C., home of Duke’s football team. The only sports venue bigger than Michigan Stadium is in North Korea.
The planes will fly before the games, but not during. For security reasons, air traffic isn’t allowed up to an hour before the game, but given the army of tailgaters that assemble in stadium parking lots, there’s no doubt they will be noticed.