Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has made an apology to the breaking community while stating that her “record speaks” to being Australia’s best B-girl, in her first sit-down interview since her controversial appearance at the Paris Olympics made global headlines.
The Australian breakdancer and Macquarie University academic was at the centre of an international wave of controversy after she was knocked out of the round-robin stage of the event for her performance routine that included hopping like a kangaroo and flailing on the floor.
In the interview, which aired on The Project on Wednesday night, Gunn apologised to the breakdancing community after the criticism she had damaged the art form’s reputation.
“There’s been a portion of very angry and, you know, awful responses, not only attacking me but attacking my husband, attacking my crew, attacking the breaking and street dance community in Australia, my family,” she told The Project.
“The energy and vitriol that people had was pretty alarming.”
Gunn also inspired a sketch on US comedian Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, something she described as evoking “mixed emotions”. She added she was not “in a place yet to watch it”.
“I don’t know whether to hug him or yell at him because – what a platform he ended up giving me, honestly,” she told host Waleed Aly about Fallon.
“I haven’t actually seen the sketch because I don’t think I’m in a place yet to watch it, but I will watch it at some point.”
The 36-year-old also revealed Richard Branson had called her in the wake of the performance to tell her he thought it was “plucky and courageous and fun” – asking her if she would perform on a cruise with musician Boy George.
Gunn also addressed the disapproval from within the breaking community, with some claiming she had set back the progression of the sport.
“It is really sad to hear those criticisms, and I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react.”
When asked if she thinks she is the best female breaker in the country, Gunn responded: “I think my record speaks to that”.
Asked by Aly if there was irony in the fact Gunn has written about how breakdancing came from marginalised communities, yet a white person was sent to the Olympics, Gunn said: “There’s a number of white b-girls in Australia”.
“I don’t know what it is about us white women and being attracted to breaking. I think even if it went to the second or third, that it still would have been a white b-girl representing.
“That’s something that we’re always reflecting on – how can we get more people into breaking?”
Gunn said she qualified for the Olympics by winning the Oceania qualifier, where she didn’t know the judges.
“I was super nervous about it, to be honest, because even though I’d won all these competitions in Australia I was nervous about winning this one because it was all new judges,” she said.
She said she knew when she qualified she would struggle against the other countries.
“As soon as I qualified, I was like, Oh my gosh, what have I done? Because I knew that I was going to get beaten, and I knew that people were not going to understand my style and what I was going to do.”
Gunn lost all three of her round-robin battles by a combined score of 54-0, prompting a hostile response to her performance.
More than 40,000 people signed an anonymous Change.org petition claiming Gunn had “manipulated” Olympic qualification processes.
The AOC clarified in a statement the qualifying event in Sydney in October 2023 was conducted by the sport’s international governing body World DanceSport Federation, as approved by the International Olympic Committee.
Gunn was “legitimately nominated” by DanceSport Australia to the committee after winning the qualifying event and had no responsibility for any funding decisions in the sport, the AOC said.
She also spoke about the reaction to her performance and how it felt during the ordeal, which saw her chased down the street by reporters.
“That was really wild,” she said.
“If people are chasing me, what do I do? But that really did put me in a state of panic.”
It follows a statement released via social media where Gunn described the response to her performance as “devastating”.
She thanked supporters but added she did not realise her entry “would also open the door to so much hate which has frankly been pretty devastating”.
“While I went out there and had fun, I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics and I gave my all, truly.”
The breaker added she was remaining in Europe for a few weeks and would “be happy to answer more questions on my return to Australia”.
– with Australian Associated Press.
