Paige Spiranac has hit back after being labelled a "racist" on social media following a tweet she made in relation to Hideki Matsuyama at The Masters last month.
Spiranac took to social media after Matsuyama's maiden major victory at The Masters at Augusta National last April, tweeting: "The menu for the champions dinner is going to be absolute fire next year."
The menu for the champions dinner is going to be absolute fire next year
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) April 11, 2021
A harmless comment you might think? Then again, this is 2021 where just about everything loves to be taken out of context on social media.
Cue @Timothy4186, who responded to Spiranac's tweet with: "Racist Comment: Paige, Thailand has the spicy food. Not Japan. But then they all look alike, right? Shame on you! You should apologize to the entire Far East of planet Earth for the sentence you wrote."
Another user quickly jumped in by tweeting: "The comments on this tweet are the stupidest I've ever read. Japanese cuisine is fantastic and no where did this tweet mention sushi? People love to grasp at straws that just simply aren't there."
Honestly it’s disgusting how everything gets twisted. I made a comment about how amazing the menu will be next year because I love Japanese food. Most winners create menus to honor where they are from and I would expect Hideki to do the same.
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) April 11, 2021
Spiranac responded: "Honestly it's disgusting how everything gets twisted. I made a comment about how amazing the menu will be next year because I love Japanese food. Most winners create menus to honor where they are from and I would expect Hideki to do the same."
She added: "I don’t care if someone calls me a sl*t but to be called a racist is uncalled [for]. I would never and I’m honestly so upset about this."
One golf fan went as far as telling Spiranac: "If you don’t understand that her post is racist and offensive, you are part of the problem."
Matsuyama has since confirmed he will be learning towards serving sushi at The Masters Dinner in 2022.
"I’m a little worried," said Matsuyama. "I don’t know if everyone will really like sushi or not, but I’m going to check with some people and get their advice and what they think.
"There’s a lot of really good food from Japan, a lot of, some of the best beef in the world, so I’m thinking about that and looking forward to it next year."
