Newsonyx

Boxer Laila Ali, daughter to late boxing champion Muhammad Ali, is in hot water after making incendiary comments about COVID-19. The athlete spoke out in defense of anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, and sent Twitter into a frenzy.

The orthographic melee began when Ali posted that anti-maskers were exercising a “God given choice” to do so.

From there, Ali’s statements became even more troubling.

“People don’t seem to understand that just b/c some folks don’t wear masks, don’t want the shot, don’t listen to the media or live in fear…it doesn’t mean they don’t ‘believe’ the virus is real or think they can’t get it! They know it was created to harm humanity!” Ali wrote.

This stoked the ire of many social media observers. As the Delta variant of COVID-19 sweeps the country making even small children extremely ill, so have the anti-masker and anti-vaxxer movements. For many, Ali’s statements were too similar to the common talking points that members from either movement have parroted, namely freedom and rights.

The backlash against Ali and her opinions was swift.

Some Twitter users decided to use her own statements against her by pointing out that the way that people will “deal with it” is by adding to an already overloaded medical system filled with people who share her sentiments.

One tweeter highlighted the privilege in Ali’s opinion and how most Black people will not have the option to just deal with getting COVID-19 as she will.

That is based on fact. Since last year, hospitals have been engaging in a care ranking system to decide which COVID-19 patients receive various types of treatment if any.  With a new surge, selective care is again on the table, this time with a patient’s vaccination status as a major criterion for even primary care services.

Perhaps the most telling response to Ali’s defense of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers came from the Muhammad Ali Center. The post showed her late father getting

a vaccination and honored those who had either succumbed to or fought COVID-19 in some capacity.

In the United States alone, over 620,000 people have died from COVID-19. The last thing we need is someone standing in defense of people who won’t simply wear a mask.