Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, was selected by Sports Illustrated to present an award honoring the first gymnast to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of abuse.
Ford recorded a video announcing Rachael Denhollander, a lawyer and former gymnast, as the recipient of Sports Illustrated’s Inspiration of the Year award. The video marked Ford’s first public statement since she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegation against Kavanaugh in September.
“I am in awe of you, and I will always be inspired by you,” Ford said in the video. “In stepping forward, you took a huge risk, and you galvanized future generations to come forward even when the odds are seemingly stacked against you.”
Neither Senate investigators nor the FBI found evidence to corroborate Ford’s allegations and Kavanaugh was confirmed by 50-48, with one Democrat backing him and one Republican denying him support.
In her first public statement since September, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford presents Sports Illustrated’s Inspiration of the Year Award to Rachael Denhollander https://t.co/2lBOB9nVDk pic.twitter.com/AjRYVYfOmS
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 12, 2018
Ford was thrust into the national spotlight when she came forward over the summer to accuse Kavanaugh, then a nominee to the Supreme Court, of sexually assaulting her during a teenage party more than 30 years earlier.
Kavanaugh unequivocally denied the allegations, and the two separately testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in an extraordinary hearing in September.
The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh after the FBI reopened its background investigation into Kavanaugh following the accusations from Ford and two other women who leveled allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
Denhollander sued Nassar in federal court in Michigan and accused him of sexual assault. More than 300 women then came forward and said they, too, were sexually assaulted by Nassar.
Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years on state charges in Michigan. He also received a 40-to-125-year sentence on sexual assault charges and a 60-year sentence on federal child pornography charges.
“The lasting lesson is what we all have the power to create real change, and we cannot allow ourselves to be defined by the acts of others,” Ford said in her video.
