Patrick Lefevere says Sam Bennett returning to Bora is like 'women who return home after domestic abuse'

Not really a spoilt child.  More like an ex-professional rider, cancer survivor, popular leader and, incidentally, the most successful cycling manager in history.

You don't get to do all that without knowing a thing or two and also being an astute judge of human character.  Blunt, yes.  Opinionated, yes.  Wrong sometimes, of course.  But brilliant all the way through.

mike the bike wrote:

...  But brilliant all the way through.

Except of course when making light of the deep trauma and social stigma faced by domestic abuse survivors

Lefevere wrote:

.....peak of mental weakness.

....like the woman who returns home after domestic abuse.*

*abridged whilst retaining context, to highlight the foulness of what he said

That is at best a pretty crass statement which exposes some disgusting opinions on a matter he clearly knows nothing about (I hope...).

FFS. Are we reading the same thing? It is a metaphor, not a commentary on domestic abuse  

Again, public figure makes one comment. Internet blows it out of context and proportion, ties it to current social events, and he gets canceled. His life contributions and reputation over. Forced to apologize for nothing. Internet moves on feeling superior. 

Blackthorne wrote:

FFS. Are we reading the same thing? It is a metaphor, not a commentary on domestic abuse  

Again, public figure makes one comment. Internet blows it out of context and proportion, ties it to current social events, and he gets canceled. His life contributions and reputation over. Forced to apologize for nothing. Internet moves on feeling superior. 

Oh yes, it was clearly a metaphor. One that used his contempt for victims of abuse to draw a parallel with his contempt for this particular individual for the (unsubstantiated) sin of suffering from mental stress.

He might not have intended to express his opinions on the plight of the victims of domestic violence, or for that matter folk suffering from stress and mental illness, however he still managed to do so, in a pretty despicable way.

Reputation? Clearly in your mind it remains untarnished, which of course is fine. In many people's however his comments are highly illuminating. This is also valid.

Words matter. This wasn't "a moment of madness" (not attributing that to you), or momentary slip. It was a thought out opinion piece. it seems to me that if his analogy can be taken at face value, he believes that domestic violence victims (and by extension sufferers of mental illness) are actually guilty of "mental weakness" (whatever the fack that is...). If that wasn't his intended meaning, why the fack make such a wildly crass and inappropriate comparison? Mistake? one would have thought that someone of his standing and quality would be skilled enough to avoid such idiocy. If not, perhaps it is just as well that he keeps his opinions to himself in future.

Blackthorne wrote:

FFS. Are we reading the same thing? It is a metaphor, not a commentary on domestic abuse  

Again, public figure makes one comment. Internet blows it out of context and proportion, ties it to current social events, and he gets canceled. His life contributions and reputation over. Forced to apologize for nothing. Internet moves on feeling superior. 

Is this really the side you want to take on this?

Black / White, right / wrong... nothing in between. Why does it always have to be about sides?

***general comment on society as a whole, not so much pointed at any one individual***

Different people will take different things from PL's comments... everyone's perceptions are valid (certainly to themselves)... no one however, apart from  PL himself, can categorically state his true meaning. All the projection applied to his comments is, quite frankly, ridiculous. 

Personally speaking, PL perplexes me. On one side, here is this man, seemingly dissecting his riders mental state in public, making snide, unnecessary comments about SB... basically being a true git... yet still, he is responsible for one of the best team's in cycling, a team that is revered not only for its sporting performances but for its genuine camaraderie... 

My take on that, is that whilst many call PL a dinosaur, I believe he is actually a very contemporary talisman of the attitudes sitting behind a lot of modern sporting success. The fact that these attitudes are seemingly so far from acceptable to so many, probably says as much about the state of elite sport as PL himself.  

mike the bike wrote:

brilliant all the way through.

I'm afraid I cannot comprehend how in 2021 anyone can think that Levefere's comments are anything but appalling. It's blatantly obvious that what he is doing is a form of abuse.