Libs are furious with Atlantic senior editor David Frum tonight over a series of tweets he wrote on steroid use and 2015 Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
The outrage began on Saturday when Frum linked to a New York Times piece on female tennis players and “body issues” where he added a line about steroids:
Steroids? Oh no, no, no. “Body image issues.” http://t.co/40W01g14n7
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 11, 2015
Serena Williams’ “rivals could try to emulate her physique, but most of them choose not to.” http://t.co/40W01g14n7
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 11, 2015
Many thought he was accusing Serena Williams of steroid use:
Yo @davidfrum: As "Senior Editor" of @TheAtlantic do you think it's ethical to imply she's on steroids w/o evidence? https://t.co/bVGQCmQzWu
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 12, 2015
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/620193213899345920
Is this satire? https://t.co/arajte5RKB
— jamilah (read bio before DMing) (@JamilahLemieux) July 12, 2015
this is like saying “oh my god, i can’t believe she’s a real girl!" https://t.co/6cvyPZVpv7
— bomani (@bomani_jones) July 12, 2015
https://twitter.com/wesleyverhoeve/status/620323127474671616
And then on Sunday, Frum added more fuel to the fire when he accidentally tweeted what were supposed to be DMs, again on Serena Williams and steroid use:
Well that’s unfortunate : I seem to have posted publicly a private Twitter conversation with a friend. I’m taking the messages down …
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 12, 2015
Screenshots of the deleted tweets here:
@davidfrum Don't worry, we saved them for you. The internet is polite like that. pic.twitter.com/W3PqajqGrU
— Sean Craig (@sdbcraig) July 12, 2015
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And although he deleted the tweets, he isn’t backing down:
not because I don’t stand behind them, but because they weren’t intended for the public domain.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 12, 2015
He even accepted an invitation to appear on Roland Martin’s radio show to discuss what he meant:
Hey @davidfrum. I really need you to explain this tweet about @serenawilliams. I don't want to assume, so I'll wait. https://t.co/NvpECC5kN3
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 12, 2015
@rolandsmartin is that an on air invitation? I accept
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 12, 2015
Records from the International Tennis Federation indicate that Serena Williams was tested at least 11 times in 2014.
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