Naomi Osaka Claps Back At Megyn Kelly For Mocking Her Anxiety ‘Do Better Megan’

Source: Mike Coppola/VF17 / Getty

Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly is beefing with Naomi Osaka following her groundbreaking Sports Illustrated cover that was released on July 19.

The crass conservative pundit took to Twitter where she called out Osaka for participating in the photoshoot.

The heated exchange began after political commentator Clay Travis gave his unwarranted two cents about Naomi’s most recent achievements including her Barbie doll that sold out within seconds and her upcoming Netflix docuseries.

“Since saying she’s too introverted to talk to the media after tennis matches, Naomi Osaka has launched a reality show, a Barbie, and now is on the cover of the SI swimsuit issue,” Travis tweeted.

That’s when Kelly hopped into his comments writing:

Kelly….C’mon! Really?!?

Osaka has already had enough backlash from the media for failing to participate in post-game press conferences. Back in May, the 23-year-old cited that her negative interactions with the press have caused a serious impact on her mental health.

“I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one, ” Osaka tweeted on May 26. “We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”

The tennis star withdrew herself from the French Open and was later hit with a $15,000 fine.

Don’t let the four-time Grand Slam champions’ sweet disposition fool you, though. In a since-deleted tweet, Osaka clapped back at Kelly telling her to ‘do better,’ shortly before blocking her.

“Seeing as you’re a journalist I would’ve assumed you would take the time to research what the lead times are for magazines, if you did that you would’ve found out I shot all of my covers last year. Instead your first reaction is to hop on here and spew negativity, do better Megan [sic].”

The podcast host probably thought she “won” in her silly exchange with Osaka and continued to further taunt Naomi who made history this week for becoming the first Black athlete to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.  While she may have gotten a few laughs from the Twitter spat, folks on social media accused Kelly of being a flat-out bully.

One person replied:

“Unfortunately, Kelly can only see Naomi as a generic member of the vast and (to her) threatening “non-white” population and not as a massively talented but potentially vulnerable young lady.”

Another person responded:

“She is an athlete not an attention seeking grifter media personality. Leave her alone and stop bullying her.”

Meanwhile, one user broke it all the way down for Kelly citing that she proved Osaka’s point exactly about the media:

“Truth is she just doesn’t like Qs she can’t control.” Put it as “situations she can’t control” and that’s basically exactly what she’s saying, that those give her extreme anxiety. But hey, can’t miss a chance to take a dig at someone can we?”

Yikes!

What do you think? Is Kelly being a big ole’ bully towards Naomi on Twitter? Sound off in the comments.