Olympic beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings has apologized after being attacked for a social media post telling fans that she went shopping without a mask.
Jennings especially raised hackles of COVID scolds in her Sunday post by telling fans that shopping without a mask was “a little exercise in being brave.”
“I had a little exercise in being brave yesterday & I’m still a bit edgy about it. I went shopping without a mask on…” she wrote in her Sunday Instagram post. She went on with a lengthy explanation for why she shed her mask on the shopping trip.
Her post, though, drew a massive backlash as people viciously attacked her for going against masks.
Over the next few days, the pressure built until Tuesday when Jennings returned to Instagram for a mea culpa.
“My goodness, gracious. To those I’ve upset so deeply, I am sorry,” Jennings wrote Tuesday in a post with a photo of a white flag and the word “Truce.”
“To those calling me dumb, selfish, privileged, bigoted, and racist… I fully acknowledge that addressing such an emotional, layered, nuanced, and polarizing topic on social media was not the smartest thing,” she continued.
Jennings added that she was only expressing her idea of maintaining freedom. “FREEDOM IS A RIGHT WORTH FIGHTING FOR,” she continued.
“I believe we have to stay mindful of the FACT that our freedoms have slowly been taken from us with our consent,” Jennings wrote.
The gold medal winner explained that she is not against mask-wearing for those who wish to do so.
“I am not advocating for people to stop wearing masks. I wear a mask most often. I don’t believe in their efficacy unless it’s of a certain caliber, yet I wear them. I am advocating critical thinking and civility. I am advocating personal responsibility,” she explained.
Despite her apology and explanation, though, the attacks continued.
Her lengthy initial post caused a lot of consternation.
“I read a quote the other day that shook me,” she said in her post on Sunday.
Jennings said that the mask demands made her wonder how she could “mindfully & compassionately stand up for my rights & for the freedoms our constitution has granted us all WITHOUT being reckless or putting anyone else in danger.”
“We are all endlessly complaining about the restrictive & arbitrarily selective rules that we are being strongly ‘suggested’ to follow & yet we are all consenting; Not much of a fight, just a lot of complaining & strongly disagreeing with this manipulation, but we keep consenting,” she noted about everyone’s acquiescence to wearing masks.
“It’s maddening. It has crushed our society, people’s livelihoods, our children’s spirits, & the fabric of our world. We have become a country & a world estranged from each other & it is more deeply unhealthy than any virus could ever be,” Jennings continued.
She said she understood that millions of people had contracted the virus, and many died as a result, but she said that the media had created needless hysteria.
“I would never downplay the impact of a single loss of life. That is it’s own conversation & my heart goes out to all those suffering poor health, the loss of a loved one and the fear that the reaction to & media coverage of COVID-19 has created in your days,” she wrote.
Jennings went on to advise a healthier style of living and even said that a healthy constitution would help usher you through sicknesses such as the coronavirus.
“KNOW your immune system is designed to support you through any illness — we must support our entire system. I want people to stop living in fear and start living in a way that strengthens themselves body, mind, and spirit,” she wrote in the Sunday post that upset so many.
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