Journalist Ben Rothenberg describes Navratilova's comments surrounding trans issues as 'vitriolic' and 'dispiriting'

Tuesday, 11 April 2023 at 02:05

Journalist Ben Rothenberg weighed in amid comments made by Martina Navratilova where she was called an 'ungrateful bigot' for calling out Nike for using a trans influencer despite having Renee Richards as her coach in 1981.

A tweet by AJ Eccles showed retweets from Navratilova which he said shows the hypocrisy in future if she speaks about protecting women's sport.

This was responded to by Ben Rothenberg with a trigger warning in which he called the rhetoric spread by Navratilova as 'vitriolic' and 'dispiriting'.

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"Considering what a true ally and pioneer Martina Navratilova was on trans acceptance and inclusion, notably hiring Renee Richards as a coach in 1981, her recent backslide into increasingly vitriolic rhetoric on trans issues is deeply dispiriting," he said.

He went on to say that it is even worse given that it is tweets as opposed to potentially just careless retweets from her account that besmirch her status.

Ben Rothenberg

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Considering what a true ally and pioneer Martina Navratilova was on trans acceptance and inclusion, notably hiring Renee Richards as a coach in 1981, her recent backslide into increasingly vitriolic rhetoric on trans issues is deeply dispiriting. tl;dr this shit is such a bummer

6:08 AM · Apr 9, 2023

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Ben Rothenberg

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Replying to @BenRothenberg

It's not just RTs, which could be excused as careless or accidental from her firehose Twitter account. It's a whole load of horseshit from someone who had so much well-earned goodwill in tennis and beyond, and it is, again, just such a fucking bummer to see her choose this hill.

6:36 AM · Apr 9, 2023

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