IRONMEN RIP IN OVER JABS
AND FOR PEOPLE SAYING LISTEN TO THE DOCTORS, I’M POSITIVE I KNOW MORE ABOUT BEING HEALTHY THAN 99 PER CENT OF DOCTORS BUT I WOULDN’T TRUST ME
KELLY SLATER
A DIVISION has emerged within the ranks of Australian surf lifesaving.
An Instagram stoush erupted between some of the country’s biggest names in water sports this week with the blokes arguing over Covid-19 vaccines.
Retired surf lifesaver Trevor Hendy and US surfer Kelly Slater went up against champion ironman Matt Poole and ironman and model Jett Kenny in the Instagram clash that had followers reaching for the popcorn.
It kicked off after the Summer of Surf Instagram account urged followers to get vaccinated to “reduce the risk of catching Covid-19”. While hundreds of people supported the post, Hendy criticised the organisation for taking a stance on vaccines.
“It’s not our sport’s role to encourage anyone into medical procedures that come with risk,” he wrote alongside the post. “We are all frustrated to not have our freedoms but we don’t get them back by agreeing to give away other freedoms, freedom of choice, freedom of privacy for our choices.”
He then went on to claim doctors had found Covid cures but had been ignored.
His post was met with support from Slater and well-known anti-vaxxers rugby league player Frank Winterstein, musician Ziggy Alberts and actor Isabel Lucas, who claims she personally knows four people who have died, days after taking the vaccine. Slater said he believed he knew more about being healthy than the majority of doctors.
“This is clearly a disease of obese, unhealthy and elderly if you study the official statistics,” Slater wrote. “And for people saying listen to the doctors, I’m positive I know more about being healthy than 99 per cent of doctors, but I wouldn’t trust me.”
Hendy was quickly shut down by Poole who slammed the father of two for his “reckless” comments.
“The next time I head down to Surfers I’m going to jump in the rip because ‘freedom of choice’,” he wrote in a post that received hundreds of “likes”.
“It’s not about freedom of choice if it impacts others – it’s about helping others.”
The SAS Australia contestant and son of former swimmer Lisa Curry Kenny also criticised Slater for weighing in on the matter on an Australian surf lifesaving Instagram account.
“Kelly Slater I hope you’re this invested in our sport and the topics around it when we are competing and when the professional series is on,” Kenny wrote.
“Would be amazing to have your support and exposure. Unless you’re just here for your personal beliefs and the argumentative/debate side of vaccinations.
“Regardless, I would love to know how you’ve ended up on a nippers Instagram post debating vaccinations.”