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- Allyson Felix says Nike asked her to be in a female-empowerment ad as she unsuccessfully negotiated maternity protections with the brand.
- She told TIME in a new profile that her "stomach dropped" when the company made the request.
- She told TIME that she believes Nike thought she was going to speak out against the brand.
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Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix says her "stomach dropped" when she was asked to participate in a female-empowerment ad for Nike while negotiating maternity protections with the company.
"I was like, this is just beyond disrespectful and tone-deaf," she told TIME in a new profile. "That's when she decided to speak out."
Felix has long accused Nike of being unsupportive of pregnant women and new mothers, and detailed her experience with the company in a 2019 op-ed for The New York Times.
Her contract with Nike expired in December 2017, and she was pregnant as she negotiated a new deal with the brand. She said Nike offered her a 70% pay cut in the new contract, and failed to explicitly support maternity protections she requested in the contract.
Felix ultimately left Nike and signed with Athleta, a women-focused appareled brand, instead.
"Nike sometimes, they feel like you don't have another option," she told TIME. "So they can get away with stuff like that because, where are you going to go? And I think that's how I was always perceived: 'She's never going to say anything. She's never going to speak out.'"
Nike has since expanded its payment protections for pregnant women and new mothers, and told TIME that it has supported "thousands of female athletes for decades."
"We regularly have conversations with our athletes regarding the many initiatives we run around the world," Nike said. "We have learned and grown in how to best support our female athletes."