-Oh, my gosh. I'm so happy.
Pump the crowd noise in now. -Yeah, exactly.
-I'm so happy that you're on the show.
I got to tell you, I'm a fan.
I was screaming at the TV,
so proud of you and proud of our country,
and I was seriously, like, tears.
It was like watching one of those awesome sports movies,
except it was real life.
I could just imagine what it was like for you.
-Yeah, I mean, honestly, I feel like it was
a little bit the same for me as it is for you,
but, like, I have to keep it together a little bit
because I'm like, "We're supposed to be here."
And like, "We're doing the winning thing, but like --"
-Yeah.
-It's like a childhood dream come true,
but then it actually comes true,
and then you're like, "Wait, what do I do now?
No one ever talked about the what do you do
when you do it part."
So then I just had as much fun as possible, basically.
-Oh, man, the world was watching you, man, and rooting for you.
Right now, you actually would have been in Tokyo, correct?
You would have been at the Olympics.
-Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah.
-Bizarre times we live in.
Are you prepping for the Olympics
for next year or not yet?
-I mean... -Too soon?
-Kind of. Yeah, it's a little too soon.
It's a really weird,
like, training sort of spot that we're in.
It's like you can't really go hard and stay
at, like, your highest level, because you can't do that
all year round, and so -- -Yeah.
-It's actually really bizarre. We're used to having everything
planned out in our lives pretty much for years at a time.
And so when the pandemic hit, it was kind of like,
well, are we just -- we're working out for health
I guess. Got a Peloton, doing yoga, doing Pilates.
I'm just trying to, like, stay healthy.
And, you know, do all -- -Put on the Lululemons
and go for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have to.
-Yeah.
-You're also known for activism as well,
which I really love about you.
You're the first non-NFL athlete to take a knee,
and you got a lot of heat for that one.
And now I see a lot of sports are supporting taking a knee.
I know Major League Baseball did it, WNBA did it.
I think the NBA has a thing.
But what was the shift there you think?
-I think the pandemic, honestly, sort of laid bare
a lot of the lies that were told.
We don't, oh, it's going to be too much for healthcare,
and too much -- well, we found like $3 trillion,
like really easily.
I was like, "Did we just have this the whole time?
Like, we just had to, like, vote on it?"
So I think people are kind of starting to connect
all of the different dots.
I think we've seen what's happened to Colin
over all of these years and how much backlash he's got,
but then all of these things come into fruition,
literally what he's talking about being played out,
you know, for all of us to see in these videos.
I guess my hope is that people are starting to connect the dots
and realizing that we don't have to live in a world like this.
We don't have to live in a world where, you know,
we don't have healthcare that's adequate
and our schools aren't adequate.
We're one of the richest countries in the world.
Like, we can do better for ourselves.
And we can do better for the people that are living here.
-Is that what you're going to talk about when --
You're now a talk show host.
You should have called me for advice.
Now we're now in the same club.
This Saturday at 10:00 p.m. on HBO.
What do you talk about on your show?
What is it about?
-It's called "Seeing America."
I'm sort of on this mission to, like, make politics cool.
And I feel like politics is always this thing,
and it's sort of meant to be like this
or it's packaged as, "Oh, this is not this cool thing.
It's difficult to get involved in,
just, like, kind of stay out of it."
And then people are like,
"Well, I don't really want to get involved."
And it's like, actually, politics is engaging with you
whether you're engaging with it or not,
all the time no matter what.
Your whole life is political,
especially if you're a black person,
or a black trans woman or a gay woman like myself
or a gay female athlete.
You know, our lives are political in so many ways.
And so, trying to break it down for people,
to make it a little bit more relatable
and then get people energized about getting involved
in the civic process and getting involved,
and, you know -- just being more active in their communities,
but also for themselves as well.
Obviously, voting is a huge one.
We're coming up on the general election,
which is, you know, I mean,
definitely in my lifetime the most important one,
but certainly a hugely consequential election.
-Yeah, 2016, I think, 'cause I was looking at the website,
When We All Vote, and it said, 100 million people didn't vote.
-100 million people didn't vote.
-Did not vote, so let's change that.
It's free. You just have to register
and you have your voice heard.
Why not do that? -Yeah.
I mean, When We All Vote is amazing.
It's bipartisan, and voting in general should be bipartisan.
We should try to be getting as many people involved
in voting as possible.
You know, it's one of the greatest things
about our country.
We live in a democratic country,
and so everyone can participate and have their voice heard.
You know, this is coming from me,
but there's a reason why certain people or certain parties work
so hard to keep people out of voting.
I think that the more people vote,
the more the policies of the country
reflect the people that are voting
and ultimately take care of the people that are voting from,
all the way from the presidency down-ballot.
In this pandemic in general
we're seeing how important mayors are
and how important the governors are.
-Yeah. -You know, it's like
Gavin Newsom and,
you know, the governor from New York, Cuomo,
they've become, like, these superstars in this way,
but it's like, they're really important.
They have a huge job. And so all of these things
affect our daily lives every day.
And so to get as many people registered
so their voice can be heard, so the policies can reflect
their needs and the needs of their communities, I think,
is the most important thing that we can do right now.
-Megan, before we leave,
do you want to move your scarf out of the way?
I don't know if it was covering your shirt,
but I just thought it was pretty important that you see it.
-Yes.
-Thank you so much for coming on my show.
I'm a big fan.
Please come back, and I'd love to see you in person.
-Yeah, let's do this in person again,
and it's a great time to arrest the cops,
so, say her name, Breonna Taylor,
rest in peace, you went too soon.
-Megan Rapinoe, everybody.
Check out whenweallvote.org
for more information on how to get involved.
We'll be right back with a performance from Angel Olsen.
Stick around.