Ahead of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court this weekend, Serena Williams‘ husband Alexis Ohanian slammed the reaction to the Justice Senate hearing last month in comparison to the response to Williams’ defending herself against an umpire’s accusations at the U.S. Open.
While responding to Alabama state Senate candidate Deborah Barros, Ohanian made his thoughts clear.
“Funny how a black female tennis player is held to a higher standard to keep her emotions in check than a Supreme Court nominee. 🤔” Barros tweeted Saturday, Oct. 6.
“It’s not funny, it’s bulls—,” the Reddit co-founder said.
Then Ohanian lashed out at how Kavanagh’s emotionally-charged testimony against accusations of sexual assault by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was met with less criticism than Williams’ blasting of an umpire who had accused her getting coaching during her loss to Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open women’s championship match in September.
“Beta Brett: + Played the ‘father card” + Cried & screamed + Insulted everyone’s intelligence with lies about the definitions of phrases anyone with Google could debunk + Argued hysterically with sitting Senators, even going so far as to threaten them,” Ohanian tweeted Oct. 7 of Kavanaugh’s hearing where he vehemently denied he was the one who assaulted Ford while the pair was in high school. The hearing also saw Kavanaugh get choked up several times during his opening statement, including as he described how one of his daughters said she would pray for his accuser.
“If you’re going to be a Supreme Court Justice — a job that requires maintaining sober judgement — it shouldn’t matter what questions you have to answer in your job interview, you keep it together,” Ohanian concluded. “I look forward to the cartoon @damonheraldsun puts on the front page about it.”
The last remark was a dig at a cartoon an Australian newspaper published following Williams calling an umpire a “thief” when he took a point and then a game away from her during the match, which Osaka won 6-2, 6-4. Many criticized the illustration as racist. Williams got fined for the outburst.
Several Twitter users weighed in on Ohanian’s take with differing opinions.
“But to be fair, shouldn’t both Serena Williams and Brett Kavanaugh who felt they were wrongly accused, have a right to be outraged whether it’s on a tennis court or hearing room?”
“Comparing the emotions of someone playing the game of tennis, to the emotions of someone being falsely accused of rape, gang rape, drugging women etc. 36 years earlier while in high school is sick.”
“It is bulls—, and also, something tells me that if Sonia Sotomayor showed up with $60k – $100k of credit card debt and asked for forgiveness for being ‘too emotional’ in her testimony ‘under the pressure,’ that we wouldn’t be calling her a Supreme Court Justice…”
