Journalist Ben Rothenberg came after tennis legend Novak Djokovic after he won his fourth straight Wimbledon championship, referring to him as an “anti-vax posterboy,” prompting Djokovic’s wife to take to Twitter to call Rothenberg out for “hatred and bullying.”
Djokovic made headlines last year after he was deported from Australia for being unvaccinated against COVID-19. He was unable to participate in the Australian Open, which he has won nine times.
Djokovic had received a vaccine exemption from both Tennis Australia and the Victoria State Government. When he arrived in Melbourne, the national government refused to sponsor his visa and he was held in a guarded room for several hours.
After his victory at Wimbledon, Djokovic doubled down, saying that he wouldn’t get the COVID vaccine required to participate in the U.S. Open, which begins in August.
“I’m not vaccinated, and I’m not planning to get vaccinated, so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter the United States or exemption,” Djokovic said, according to ESPN. “I don’t know. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible. If that is possibility, I don’t know what exemption would be about. I don’t know. I don’t have much answers there.”
The response prompted Rothenberg to tweet about Djokovic, saying, “Unless there is a swift change in US immigration law, #Wimbledon will be Djokovic’s last Grand Slam event of the year. US requires vaccination for foreigners to enter, and Djokovic has firmly said he has ruled out getting vaccinated, entrenching himself as an anti-vax posterboy.”
This prompted Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, to reply to Rothenberg, confronting him on the last few words of his tweet.
“Excuse me,” she tweeted in response to the journalist. “Just making sure that it is noted that YOU tagged him as antivax poster boy for whatever reason you have. He simply responded [to] what HIS body choice is.”
A few minutes later, Rothenberg replied: “I understand that it’s his choice, but I also am saying that his decision to be so firmly against the vaccines that it limits his ability to play tournaments has made him, unwittingly or not, into a huge icon of the anti-vax movement. I saw this very clearly during Australia.”
Jelena shot back: “You are creating a very judgmental narrative that fits your agenda. He is simply choosing what’s best for his body. If he is not playing because of making that choice, he is fine with it.”
“I can accept judgmental,” Rothenberg replied. “I believe every citizen, especially public figures, had a duty to act responsibly with public health actions and messaging during the pandemic, and as someone who has covered Novak as the influential champion he is, he repeatedly disappointed me deeply.”
Jelena finished by calling out Rothenberg: “Thank you for sharing your beliefs. I hope you don’t get judged for them. Or become a poster boy for hatred and bullying. You never know. You are also influential figure, please don’t continuously disappoint. Unless that’s your role.”
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