Months After Condemning Novak Djokovic’s Forced Withdrawal, Surfing Champion Kelly Slater Breaks His Silence on Another “Criminal” Decision

The 11-time surfing world champion Kelly Slater is not afraid to express his views. He does so regularly on social media, constantly standing up for what he believes in. With a career spanning more than 30 years, Kelly Slater has been around the world. He has experienced different cultures and delved into several social panoramas. From being an environmentalist to becoming an entrepreneur, he has done it all. One thing has been constant through it all, his displeasure with vaccines.

The surfing icon has made no qualms about condemning vaccines in the media, especially the big pharmaceutical giants making them during the period of COVID. In a similar fashion, when Novak Djokovic was restrained from participating in the US Open in 2021 due to being unvaccinated, Kelly Slater readily condemned the decision. Recently, news came out that a man was refused a kidney transplant in Canada as he was unvaccinated, as a result of which, he died. This decision was labeled as “criminal” by the surfing champion.

Kelly Slater eviscerates the choice that took a life

On his Instagram stories, Slater shared a video that was originally posted by an account with the name “ericmoutsos”. The clip revealed the news, that a man in Ontario, Canada passed away after being refused a kidney transplant by the doctors, even though his brothers were ready to donate the organ. Kelly Slater was enraged at the demise. Along with sharing the video in his stories, he wrote. “This is criminal, Canada.” He also tagged the current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, in the story.

According to a report by the Western Standard, the man who passed away was Ontario resident Garnet Harper. His wife revealed that she was asked to donate his organs, despite him not getting the life-saving operation. The reel that was shared by Kelly Slater revealed that the doctors were not willing to perform the surgery as Garnet Harper was unvaccinated. When she got the call for organ donation, Harper’s wife said, “…I’m not going to be participating in this program as long as people like my husband are not eligible to receive organs that are from the Trillium Network.”

Read more: Amidst His Brazil Controversy, Kelly Slater Shares an Old Video of His Historic Win From 1997 at Rio de Janeiro

Clearly, this policy decision did not sit well with Kelly Slater, and his words revealed he thought it was sheer injustice. A similar outrage was expressed by the surfing icon when the participation of Novak Djokovic was not accepted by the US Open due to the guidelines that required players to be vaccinated. America is not the only country from where the tennis champion received pushback. Djokovic was not able to participate in the Australian Open either, and Kelly Slater spoke out about that as well.

Traversing the deep terrain of controversy

According to a report by Beach Grit, when Novak Djokovic was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to being unvaccinated, Kelly Slater said, “Is the US really still doing this? @djokernole you deserve better. Or you could just walk across the southern border. RIDICULOUS”. Novak Djokovic could also not participate in the Australian Open, a decision that was once again slammed by the surfing legend. In January last year, Kelly Slater said, “Maybe Stockholm Syndrome can now change its name to Melbourne/Australia Syndrome.”

He further obliterated the segregation on the basis of vaccination status, calling it unfair and saying, “So much brainwashed hatred in people’s hearts regardless of vax status.” With the 51-year-old carrying this viewpoint, it is no surprise that Kelly Slater spoke out against the decision made by Canadian authorities that led to the death of a man struggling with kidney disease.

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