Adelaide ruckman Reilly O’Brien has defending his image alongside controversial writer and psychologist Jordan Peterson.
Peterson rose to prominence in 2016 by way of his YouTube sequence Professor Against Political Correctness, questioning whether or not local weather change is actual and calling Welcome to Country messages “propaganda”.
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But Peterson has additionally constructed a loyal following with greater than 5.6m Instagram followers and 6.16m subscribers on YouTube.
O’Brien, who took a photograph alongside Peterson which he shared on Instagram together with the caption: “A great man”.
O’Brien advised The Advertiser he didn’t agree with every thing Peterson espoused however was amused by the backlash.
“In society it’s hard to have a point of view without getting shot down, especially with someone like that who doesn’t agree with the mainstream narrative a lot of the time,” O’Brien mentioned.
“I think we’d like more opinions, especially from AFL players. AFL players can be a bit vanilla compared to American sports, for example.
“I think there can be a lot more interest can be generated if players can be themselves and express their views.
“Obviously you don’t want to be expressing crazy views, but expressing views and having a bit more interest outside of footy.”
Peterson has precipitated loads of controversy over time.
He known as plus-size Sports Illustrated mannequin Yumi Nu “not beautiful” after she appeared on the journal cowl.
“Sorry. Not beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that,” he wrote to his 2.7 million followers.
Peterson was additionally banned from Twitter final June for his feedback on transgender athletes and girls.
He additionally pushed again towards Covid-19 vaccines and restrictions in Canada, in a single occasion claiming the Canadian PM must kill him earlier than getting a booster.
However, his 2018 self-help ebook 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos – which inspired readers to face up straight, not hassle youngsters skateboarding and keep away from petting stray cats – offered greater than three million copies worldwide.
But O’Reilly mentioned it was solely a small minority who criticised the Canadian and that Peterson “probably saved millions of people from the brink in terms of their mental health”.
“In my opinion, he’s a pretty mainstream figure, he’s sold-out stadiums around Australia and probably been one of the best-selling authors in the world the last few years,” he said.
“I’ve got a lot out of his work in terms of the psychology side, in terms of taking responsibility.
“He’s been a huge influence on me and a lot of people I know.”
