There’s nothing quite like a pandemic to get celebrities and doctors feuding.
It’s been two years of reporting on these kinds of spats and last week, we saw Dr Nick Coatsworth calling out Lisa Wilkinson and now the good doctor is walking back his comments – well, in this case, retweets.
It all kicked off when ex-deputy chief health officer, Coatsworth retweeted several tweets calling out Wilkinson’s privilege after she praised the introduction of the new isolation rules in New Zealand that require COVID-19 patients to isolate for 24 days.
Wilkinson said: “‘If that doesn’t give you an indication that Jacinda Ardern has looked across the ‘ditch’ at our bin fire and gone, ‘Not doing that!’ Wow.”
Basically, Wilkinson seemed to be implying that isolating might be the key to reducing case numbers but of course, being able to afford to isolate for that long does require a certain amount of privilege.
Cue Dr Coatsworth taking to Twitter, while he didn’t directly call out Wilkinson, he did retweet some pretty spicy tweets – that then made headlines.
“Imagine being the new migrant forced to pack the micro-herbs in a Delta-struck warehouse to be shipped out to Wilkinson’s local gourmet shop – an essential service – and then return at the end of your shift to a crowded apartment with no backyard?” https://t.co/WLTYUY9qSU
— James Morrow (@pwafork) January 24, 2022
However, Dr Coatsworth has now apologised to Wilkinson, The Australian reported, he said: “It’s not ideal – I’ve got a pretty good relationship with The Project.
“I’m sort of trying to hose it down. It was a moment of weakness when I sent out the tweets. I’ve got nothing against her personally. I just fell into the trap of saying it on Twitter.”
So perhaps that’s the end of the feud!
