For the first time ever, a woman hosted the ESPY Awards. With her popularity at an all-time high, although she just retired from a 13-year racing career, Danica Patrick was the perfect choice!
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She broke down many barriers in the racing world by being the first female to win an IndyCar Series race, the first woman to clinch a pole position in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and had the highest finish by a woman in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, among other accomplishments.
Because of her history of being the first female to do a lot of things in her sport, she had no qualms with being the first female to host the ESPY Awards. The awards show was held on Wednesday night (July 18) in Los Angeles, and celebrated the best athletes and sports moments of the past year.
As host, she took on the task of performing a monologue at the start of the show, which usually consists of commending all the athletes’ incredible achievements, while poking fun at them at the same time.
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No one was off limits, not even herself! In a pre-recorded skit, Patrick, with the help of her Green Bay Packers quarterback boyfriend Aaron Rodgers, filmed a parody of the Oscar-nominated film I, Tonya. The movie is based on the life and early career of disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding.
Their parody was called Me, Danica, and had the same exact story line as I, Tonya, with Patrick playing herself, Rodgers playing Harding’s husband’s character, and Patrick also playing the chain-smoking, oxygen mask-wearing mother. See the similarities below!
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Instead of the husband hiring someone to hurt Nancy Kerrigan, Rodgers’ character had someone ruin fellow driver Helio Castroneves’ car, with him screaming the infamous, “Why?!”
It was a moment people couldn’t stop talking about for many reasons! Watch the parody video below.