Serge Frank Kovaleski (born April 8, 1961) is a South African-born American investigative reporter at '' The New York Times''. 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 ...
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 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 ...
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'', and '' Money'' 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 ...
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 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, 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."