A report on former figure skater Jamie Salé's anti-vaccine views stirred controversy among some who object to the amplification of what they consider ...
A few of my thoughts: https://t.co/vEqai7wUfy https://t.co/KkUT6aTOo3— [37,000 Canadians since 2020](https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/coronavirustracker/) and affected the health of millions of others. Sports figures are a large part of Canadian pop culture and we adore them. Freedom of expression is important to many Canadians and one could argue that Fleury and Salé are simply using the freedoms that are entrenched in our Charter. Perhaps we might never truly know what active athletes believe until they retire and then get ambushed with opinions or perspectives. [former husband](https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/figure-skating/olympic-gold-medallists-sal%C3%A9-pelletier-divorce-1.891009) David Pelletier won an Olympic gold and a world championship in the early 2000s, has now become famous for her polarizing anti-vaccine stance. I appreciate the reporting. I would be more upset if an athlete I adored was taking an arguably dangerous position and I knew nothing of it and kept them on a pedestal. We are far beyond a time to say "sports shouldn't be political," particularly if the (former) athletes are bellowing their own politics into the world so boldly. Her Twitter account offers information about how "freedom" has been under attack since the COVID-19 pandemic. Salé and former NHL player Theo Fleury both front an organization called Canadians for Truth. I don't expect every athlete I admire to share my views on social issues.
Take the opinions of your favourite athletes with a grain of salt, William Thomas writes.
Those whispers of a nickname change from “The Great One” to “The Greedy One” are getting louder by the day. But critical thinking and a general awareness of how the world worked gave me the instinct to say, “No. Emboldened by the endorsement of fellow Albertans, Salé is about to launch a media company to voice her version of — wait for it — the truth. Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady’s claim that drinking 37 glasses of water a day prevents sunburn stands as a mere brain fart compared to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who denies 9/11 and the moon landing but does believe in Inner Earth and reptile people. Canada’s sweetheart in white skates, who won three Canadian Championships, a World Championship and was cheated out of a gold medal at the Salt Lake Olympics, is now a social media mogul spewing disinformation to adoring fans and anarchists on the fringe. As a motivational speaker/life coach, Salé now claims that COVID was a hoax, that the vaccine was unsafe, all the while comparing Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler.