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J.J. Watt calls out website for poorly worded tweet about Kealia Ohai: 'This headline is trash'

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt wants a local news station to put some respect on Kealia Ohai’s name. The station — ABC13 Houston — was called out by Watt after referring to Ohai as “J.J. Watt’s fiancee” instead of using Ohai’s name in a tweet.

The story focused on Ohai, a professional soccer player, being traded from the Houston Dash to the Chicago Red Stars. While ABC13 Houston used Ohai’s name in the actual headline on its website, it did not use Ohai’s name in the tweet it sent promoting the story.

Houston Texans' J.J. Watt, left, and his fiancee, professional soccer player Kealia Ohai.
J.J. Watt wasn't happy that a local news station referred to Keilia Ohai as his fiancee instead of using Ohai's name. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Watt was not happy about that.

As Watt spells out, the story was about Ohai and her accomplishments. She should be recognized in the headline instead of being described as “Watt’s fiancee.” That description completely ignores Ohai’s success as a women’s soccer player. It makes it sound like being engaged to Watt is more important than Ohai’s career as a professional athlete.

Ohai was drafted by the Dash in 2014, and emerged as one of the team’s best players. Ohai tied Lynn Williams for the golden boot award in 2016 — given to the player who scored the most goals. Ohai tore her ACL in 2017, and returned to the field in 2019.

The Red Stars gave up Katie Naughton, who the team selected with the No. 19 pick in the 2020 draft, to acquire Ohai from the Dash.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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