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The Internet is mad at this model for rejecting a Tour de France winner’s kiss

Almost as awkward as when Adrien Brody kissed Halle Berry at the Oscars.

 

EJ Dickson

Internet Culture

Posted on Jul 7, 2014   Updated on May 31, 2021, 12:21 am CDT

Last Sunday, Italian cyclist Vicenzo Nibali won Stage 2 of the Tour de France cycling tournament. It was a triumphant moment and a huge accomplishment for any professional biker…but it wasn’t that impressive to this model, who coolly rebuffed Nibali when he attempted to give her a kiss while accepting his yellow jersey in an onstage ceremony.

Here’s the kiss—or, more accurately, lack thereof—at 0:14:

Of course, the woman was under no obligation to reciprocate Nibali’s advances—because, you know, we live in the 21st century, and women aren’t required to make themselves available to men at any given moment—the general consensus on the Internet was less along the lines of, “Eh, I don’t really blame her, dude probably didn’t smell that great after 150 km of hard cycling,” and more along the lines of, “How dare she/Who the hell does that bitch think she is.”

“Let’s not lose sight of what’s really important here: this woman is a jerk,” Kyle Koster of BroBible wrote. “Nibali wasn’t going in for some tongue-on-tongue action. He was going in for a European double cheek peck…Sure, Nibali probably smelled a little sour after the demanding ride, but that’s no reason to humiliate him.”

Some Internet commenters tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, attributing the “rejection” to her taking the stuffed lion and presenting Nibali with it at the same time that she was supposed to kiss him. But the tone of the majority of the comments on YouTube seemed more aligned with Koster’s view: “Ouch! That hurt my feelings,” one wrote, while another opted for a more succinct “What a bitch lol.”

So remember, ladies: If some tall, sweaty Italian man has just biked more than 150 kilometers and he tries to plant one on you on national television, let him! Otherwise, the Internet will probably call you a bitch.

 

H/T BroBible | Screengrab via murkom/YouTube

 

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*First Published: Jul 7, 2014, 10:09 am CDT