Teen Activist Credits WWE TV For Helping Her Battle Congressman
To paraphrase Jeff Jarrett: Don't piss off the teens. Especially when they grew up watching wrestling.
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has been a vocal opponent of abortion rights in the United States, and recently spoke out against the demand for bodily autonomy. "Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about abortions?" Gaetz asked at the recent Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. "Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb."
"These people are odious from the inside out," Gaetz continued. "They're like 5'2, 350 pounds, and they're like 'Give me my abortions or I'll get up and march and protest.' And I'm thinking —march? You look like you got ankles weaker than the legal reasoning behind Roe v. Wade."
Olivia Julianna, a 19-year old activist for Gen Z For Change, was appalled by Gaetz's words and decided to call him out. "I'm actually 5'11. 6'4 in heels," Julianna tweeted. "I wear them so the small men like you are reminded of your place."
Gaetz responded to Julianna's tweets, but the back and forth put a spotlight on Julianna, who then urged her followers to donate to abortion funds. As of today she's raised $600,000. Julianna is also continuing to taunt Gaetz on social media, currently trying to send Gaetz flowers for helping her raise so much money for abortion funds.
Matt Gatez decided to body shame me, so I started fundraising for abortion funds.
We have now hit $600K in the last 3 days ‼️‼️‼️
Can we get it to $650K ?????
— Olivia Julianna 🗳 (@0liviajulianna) July 28, 2022
Julianna recently spoke with Teen Vogue about the outpouring of support, and cited her love of WWE as the inspiration for her confidence. "I grew up obsessed with professional wrestling and WWE," Julianna told Teen Vogue. "I truly believe that my comeback ability and my confidence in times of arguments or attacks 100% comes from years of watching WWE and scripted conflict."
Julianna credits WWE's penchant for having superstars stand up to authority, whether it be Vince McMahon or the very-literal "Authority" faction of the late-2010s. "I had years of watching storylines taking on authority figures or 'bad guys.' It made me develop a quick wit to respond in this situation."
A self-professed fan of John Cena, Olivia describes herself as "obsessed," and says that her nana was the one that introduced her to wrestling. A long-time fan herself, Olivia's nana found comfort in WWE as she battled Alzheimer's Disease, noting that wrestling was always on the TV. "The love for it got instilled in me a young age. I was really into it as a kid."
This is just the latest public incident for Gaetz, who is having a bad year by any standard. The Florida Congressman is already under investigation for Mann Act violations after Seminole County Treasurer — and Gaetz confidant — Joel Greenberg turned state's witness in April of last year and began cooperating with federal officials' investigation into possible sex trafficking.