(Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)Tennis star Serena WilliamsSerena Williams' victory dance has come under question after some charged that her moves are gang-related and seem politically motivated.
Serena Williams decided to do a short Crip walk dance after securing her first singles gold medal on Saturday. The dance was allegedly meant to pay homage to Williams hometown in the Compton area of Los Angeles, California, but its gang ties have infuriated some.
The Crip walk- also referred to as the C-walk- was made famous by gang members in the Compton area who received notoriety due to their opposition to a second gang, the Bloods. The dance involves moving ones feet to spell out the name.
While some say the age-old dance was nothing to get excited over, others have stated that it was highly inappropriate and has no place in the Olympic competitions.
"What Serena did was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church," Fox sports writer Jason Whitlock stated. In Whitlock's opinion, Williams deserves all of the criticism that she has received over the dance.
"Serena deserved to be criticized and she should've immediately apologized," Whitlock argued. "Wimbledon isn't the place to break out a dance popularized by California Crip gang members. She knows it. That's why she got embarrassed when asked by reporters to reveal the name of the dance."
Others disagreed and suggested that people were too quick to consider every move politically motivated.
"It's a dance move, not a political statement," Yahoo sports writer Chris Chase prompted. "This makes it seem like Serena crip-walked away from the Queen after stealing the crown jewels. She broke out the dance for three seconds, while looking at her sister sitting in the player's box!"
Williams herself however, admitted that moves were inappropriate when reviewed by reporters after her victory and refused to give it a name.
"Actually, there is a name," Williams said of the dance. "But I don't know if I- it's inappropriate. It's just a dance we do in California."
Why then, did Williams do the dance anyway? Was it simply an inside joke between herself and her sister, or motivated by something else?
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