Afghan Girls’ Robotics Team’s Lawyer Tells Woman to Stop Claiming She Saved Them
Allyson Reneau, an Oklahoma woman who’s been on a media blitz to say she saved an all-girls robotics team in Afghanistan, got hit with a cease and desist letter this week.
According to the Washington Post, lawyer for the team’s parent organization, the Digital Citizen Fund, said, “Continuingly recycling old pictures with the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, many of whom are minors, as validation that you had anything to do with their immensely stressful and dangerous escape not only impacts the safety of the girls but it also significantly affects the safety of the members of the team who still remain in Afghanistan.”
The lawyer, Kim Motley, went on, “It is highly unfortunate that you would use such a tragically horrible situation … for what appears to be your own personal gain.”
Reneau spoke to Today.com and appeared on CNN to say that she helped the girls out of the country, which fell to the Taliban earlier this month. Her story has been featured by a variety of other outlets. Reneau, a gymnastics coach and motivational speaker who is also a mother of 11 and a Harvard graduate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
She did tell the Washington Post, however, that she’s “above board” and will continue.
“The attention I’ve gotten has allowed me to help other Afghan women, so I don’t see any reason for me to stop,” she said.
Per the Post, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry — which has helped Afghans, including members of the the robotics team — criticized American media for turning her into a “white savior.”
Watch her interview with CNN below.
An Oklahoma woman helped evacuate 10 girls on the Afghanistan all-girls robotics team.
"I knew … it would require some pretty powerful people, which is a little above my pay grade and my network. But I just couldn't sit on my hands and do nothing," Allyson Reneau said. pic.twitter.com/pLjz8PioHp
— New Day (@NewDay) August 20, 2021