{"id":1799958,"date":"2023-01-09T12:05:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T17:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1799958"},"modified":"2023-01-09T12:06:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T17:06:18","slug":"former-virginia-tech-soccer-player-who-refused-blm-kneel-gets-100k-in-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-virginia-tech-soccer-player-who-refused-blm-kneel-gets-100k-in-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Virginia Tech Soccer Player Who Refused BLM Kneel Gets $100K in Settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-virginia-tech-soccer-player-who-refused-blm-kneel-gets-100k-in-settlement%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1799958&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/04\/23\/kiersten-hening-i-was-forced-off-college-soccer-team-after-refusing-to-kneel\/\">former Virginia Tech soccer player who accused her coach of benching her<\/a> when she refused to kneel during a pregame social-justice demonstration will get $100,000 under a lawsuit settlement, a new report says.<\/p>\n<p>Kiersten Hening is receiving the money after agreeing to dismiss the federal lawsuit she filed in 2021 against head coach Charles \u201cChugger\u201d Adair on First Amendment grounds, <a href=\"https:\/\/roanoke.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/virginia-tech-paid-100-000-in-ex-athletes-lawsuit-settlement-attorney-says\/article_cfcbc3d6-8c8f-11ed-b60f-5bbe7642546e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> the Roanoke Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing by either Hening or her former coach, said her lawyer, Cameron Norris, to the outlet. <\/p>\n<p>Hening claimed she was benched after Adair became frustrated by her political views, which often differed from those of her teammates. <\/p>\n<p>Hening had specifically refused to kneel during a social-justice demonstration in support of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/09\/08\/public-support-for-sports-plummets-amid-blm-protests-survey\/\">Black Lives Matter movement in 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-1.jpg\" alt=\"Former Virginia Tech soccer player Kiersten Hening\" class=\"wp-image-25285519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-1.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-1.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-1.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/a><figcaption>Former Virginia Tech soccer player Kiersten Hening, who accused her coach of benching her for not participating in a social justice demonstration, will receive $100,00 in a lawsuit settlement.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Virginia Tech Athletics<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In her lawsuit, Hening said that while she \u201csupports social justice and believes that black lives matter,\u201d she \u201cdoes not support BLM the organization,\u201d citing its \u201ctactics and core tenets of its mission statement, including defunding the police.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Hening opted not to kneel during a reading of a \u201cunity statement\u201d before a Sept. 12, 2020, game against the University of Virginia, her coach \u201cverbally attacked\u201d her during halftime, she said. <\/p>\n<p>Adair berated Hening and benched her, and two games later, she quit the team all together, saying in the lawsuit that she was forced out because of her coach\u2019s \u201ccampaign of abuse and retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-3.jpg\" alt=\"Hening playing soccer\" class=\"wp-image-25285518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Hening agreed to dismiss her 2021 lawsuit against head coach Charles \u201cChugger\u201d Adair.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Virginia Tech Athletics<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On Dec. 2, federal Judge Thomas Cullen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/12\/11\/virginia-techs-kiersten-hening-allowed-to-proceed-with-lawsuit-judge\/\">denied a motion to dismiss\u00a0the lawsuit<\/a>, agreeing that Hening\u2019s time on the field decreased after the incident. Her coach had argued that two other players who also chose not to kneel did not face reduced playing time. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, Adair may convince a jury that this coaching decision was based solely on Hening\u2019s poor play during the UVA game, but the court, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Hening, cannot reach that conclusion as a matter of law,\u201d Cullen ruled.<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 4, Adair released a statement on Twitter saying, \u201cI am pleased the case against me has been closed and I am free to move forward clear of any wrong doing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-4.jpg\" alt=\"Hening playing soccer\" class=\"wp-image-25285520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-4.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-4.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/kriersten-hening-4.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Hening chose not to kneel down during a reading of a \u201cunity statement\u201d before a Sept. 12, 2020 game against the University of Virginia.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Virginia Tech Athletics<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate, but this ordeal was about a disappointment and disagreement about playing time. Today, we have clarity that this case lacked any standing, and without evidence, the truth has prevailed,\u201d Adair said.<\/p>\n<p>The $100,000 payment to Hening was not mentioned in the tweet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Virginia Tech soccer player who accused her coach of benching her when she refused to kneel during a pregame social-justice demonstration will get $100,000 under a lawsuit settlement, a new report says. Kiersten Hening is receiving the money after agreeing to dismiss the federal lawsuit she filed in 2021 against head coach Charles &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1799961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[11697,13956,5458,9280,4016,6635,3819,9811,7478,4989,5468],"class_list":["post-1799958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-100k","tag-blm","tag-bongino","tag-kneel","tag-player","tag-refused","tag-report","tag-settlement","tag-soccer","tag-tech","tag-virginia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1799961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}