Megyn Kelly has again come under fire for her online comments against a prominent black athlete.
The former Fox News host thought it was her responsibility to add to an already ignorant take provided by Clay Travis in which the two poked fun at the fact that Naomi had recently retired from contention at Wimbledon as well as at the Olympics citing mental health reasons, while at the same time appearing on several magazine covers.
Since saying she was too introverted to talk to the media after tennis matches, Naomi Osaka has started a reality show, a Barbie, and is now on the cover of the SI swimsuit issue. https://t.co/7V2x1ofGJy
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 19, 2021
“Since saying she was too introverted to talk to the media after tennis matches, Naomi Osaka has started a reality show, a Barbie, and is now on the cover of swimsuit number SI”, tweeted Travis early Monday morning.
Megyn Kelly can’t help herself
Kelly chimed in with her own ignorant comment saying “let’s not forget the cover of (and the interview in) Vogue Japan and Time Mag!”.
Osaka has been franc on the importance of mental health in athletes, particularly in relation to press conferences and interview questions before and after games. In an article recently published for Time magazineOsaka says “It’s OK not to be OK”
“Over the past few weeks, my journey has taken an unexpected path that has taught me a lot and helped me grow. I learned a few key lessons… Lesson one: you can never please everyone… Lesson two was perhaps more rewarding: it became clear to me that literally everyone suffers from mental health issues or know someone who suffers from it.
Athletes around the world applauded Osaka’s sentiments (because many of them felt the same way) as well as her boldness to go public with her own struggles and need to step down.
Pundits like Travis and Kelly have used Osaka’s words and takedowns as ammunition to argue the athlete is spoiled and entitled.
Pundits thought Osaka appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition was more ammunition, but quickly realized their ignorance had backfired.
Osaka responds
In a since-deleted tweet, Osaka said:
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“Since you’re a journalist, I would have assumed you would take the time to research magazine delivery times. If you did that, you would have found out that I did all my covers last year. Instead , your first reaction is to jump in here and spit negativity, do better Megan.
In case Megyn Kelly is unaware, a person has the autonomy to decide what they choose to show up for with their own body. It’s perfectly within Osaka’s right to decide not to do a press conference for mental health reasons and later choose to do a photo shoot for a magazine cover.
Poor @naomiosaka blocked me by shooting me (I guess she’s only hard on the courts). She apparently maintains that she shot her many b/4 covers by publicly saying she was too socially anxious to deal with the press. The truth is, she just doesn’t like Qs she can’t control. Admit it. pic.twitter.com/izyRzOrUVm
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) July 19, 2021
Kelly then doubled down on her ignorance by saying “the truth is she just doesn’t like Qs she can’t control”.
Osaka rightfully blocked Kelly on Twitter.
One way or another, these experts are going to learn that making fun of athletes for what they choose to do and not do with their own body/time will never sit well with them.