- READ: Harris correctly predicts Oakland’s shocking win over Kentucky
- READ: Vice President gets booed during surprise March Madness performance in Iowa
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Kamala Harris was one of the few to predict Oakland’s stunning defeat of Kentucky in the ongoing men’s NCAA tournament, but the nation’s first female vice president is apparently less familiar with the women’s tournament.
Speaking to an interviewer in footage from Spectrum News, Harris attempted to offer a “bit of history” about the women’s tournament by incorrectly stating that “women’s teams would not be allowed to have brackets until 2022.”
“Think about that,” she told the nodding interview. ‘Speaking of progress, better late than never. Because what that has done is how much we love March Madness, and even now allowing the women to have brackets and what that does to encourage people to talk about the women’s teams, watch them, and now they’re covered .’
“This is the reality, people used to say ‘women’s sport, this isn’t interesting’, but if you can’t see it, it won’t be. But when you see it, you realize ”oh.”
Harris is right about the popularity of women’s hoops, which recently enjoyed its highest-rated game ever: Monday’s Iowa-LSU Elite 8 clash. However, her bizarre statement that there will be no brackets until 2022 seems to be a sad amalgamation of several facts.
Harris tried to offer a “bit of a history lesson” about the women’s tournament, but it backfired
Despite her claim, Harris and her husband filled out the women’s tournament brackets in 2021
For starters, the women’s tournament was launched in 1982 – 40 years earlier than Harris claimed.
In fact, Harris seems to be thinking about the “March Madness” trademark, which was only applied to the women’s tournament after being used exclusively by men until 2022.
Adding to the bizarreness of her statement is the fact that both she and her husband have completed the 2021 women’s tournaments – both of which have been published online.
Kari Bailey of Minneapolis holds up an NCAA women’s basketball tournament that she entered into the office pool in 2004
“So you picked No. 1 seeds,” Harris wrote on Twitter in response to her husband Douglas Emhoff’s pick. “I thought you were a fan of number 2!”
Despite the awkward wording of her message, Emhoff responded with a laughing emoji, mercifully bringing the social media interaction between spouses to an end.
Social media users were naturally shocked by Harris’ misinformation and promptly began mocking the Veep.
“When pressing on foreign policy, she proudly shared that she had helped Israel beat Hamas in the Sweet Sixteen,” one critic responded to X.
Another added: “Did you know that just this year they finally cut the bottom out of the women’s peach basket?”
The 42nd edition of the women’s Final Four will be played Friday night in Cleveland, where undefeated South Carolina will take on NC State in the early game before Caitlin Clark’s Iowa tangles with Paige Bueckers’ Connecticut in the late game.