Serge Frank Kovaleski (born April 8, 1961) is a South African-born American investigative reporter at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. He contributed to reporting that won ''The New York Times'' a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for its investigation of the
Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
On March 10, 2008, ''The New York Times'' reported that Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer had patronized a prostitution ring run by an escort agency known as Emperors Club VIP. During the course of an investigation into the escort agency, the ...
.
Early life
Born in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, Kovaleski spent his early childhood in
Sydney, Australia
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...
, until his family moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in the 1970s. His father,
Fred Kovaleski
Fred Thomas Kovaleski (October 8, 1924 – May 25, 2018) was an American tennis player, spy, and businessman.
Early life
Fred Kovaleski was born October 8, 1924, in Maynard, Massachusetts, and grew up in Hamtramck, Michigan. Hamtramck was majo ...
, was a spy for the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
in the 1950s.
He graduated in 1984 from the
College of William & Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
in
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula ...
, with a degree in philosophy. After receiving his bachelor's degree, Kovaleski studied French philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris. His travels through Europe before the fall of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
inspired him to become a journalist.
Career
Kovaleski began his journalism career in the mid-1980s at ''The Miami News''. He then worked for the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', and ''
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
'' magazine. He joined ''The New York Times'' in July 2006 as an investigative and general assignment reporter on the Metro desk. He joined the Culture desk as an investigative journalist in 2014, and moved to the National desk in 2016.
Matthew Rosenberg
Matthew Rosenberg (born August 2, 1974) is a Pulitzer-Prize winning American journalist who covers national security issues for ''The New York Times.'' He previously spent 15 years as a foreign correspondent in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, an ...
George Polk Award
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...
for their investigation into allegations that members of the U.S. Navy
SEAL Team Six
The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and commonly known as SEAL Team Six, is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often referre ...
abused Afghan detainees.
Comments by Donald Trump
In a speech at a November 24, 2015, rally in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its y ...
, presidential candidate
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
claimed that "thousands and thousands of people were cheering" in
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.World Trade Center collapsed.
After this claim was questioned, the Trump campaign referred to a September 18, 2001, ''Washington Post'' article that Kovaleski had co-authored with Fredrick Kunkle, as substantiation of the claim. According to the article, "law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation."
Kovaleski issued the following written statement in response to the Trump campaign's adoption of his report as an independent verification of New Jersey-based celebrations following the destruction of the World Trade Center:
"I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember."
In apparent response to this written statement, Trump said in a November 25, 2015, speech in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: "You've got to see this guy: 'Uhh, I don't know what I said. Uhh, I don't remember,' he's going like 'I don't remember. Maybe that's what I said.'" Trump flailed and jerked his arms around, something which Kovaleski is not able to do, and which Trump had done several times previously to mock perceived cowardice in other individuals. The incident drew widespread domestic and international criticism.
Trump was severely criticized worldwide for mocking Kovaleski's disability. Kovaleski has
arthrogryposis Arthrogryposis (AMC) describes congenital joint contracture in two or more areas of the body. It derives its name from Greek, literally meaning "curving of joints" (', "joint"; ', late Latin form of late Greek ', "hooking").
Children born with one ...
, a condition causing joint
contracture
In pathology, a contracture is a permanent shortening of a muscle or joint. It is usually in response to prolonged hypertonic spasticity in a concentrated muscle area, such as is seen in the tightest muscles of people with conditions like spasti ...
in his right arm and hand. Following domestic and international condemnation, Trump said that he was not mocking Kovaleski's disability because he did not know what Kovaleski looked like. Kovaleski has said that while reporting on Trump for the ''New York Daily News'', the two had been on a first-name basis and had met face-to-face on a dozen occasions, including interviews and press conferences in the late 1980s. That the two knew each other was corroborated by multiple other witnesses.
Meryl Streep speech
During her January 8, 2017, acceptance speech at the
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
ceremony, actress Meryl Streep referred to the incident as "one performance this year that stunned me". Streep said:
It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head, because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life. And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose.
Trump responded on Twitter, calling Streep "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood."