Over the past few days, Naomi Osaka and Megyn Kelly exchanged heated tweets after the journalist slammed the tennis star for appearing in magazine covers after snubbing the French Open press for her mental health.

Today, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editor M.J. Day is speaking out to defend the athlete. The editor appeared on the PEOPLE Every Day podcast, where she talked to host Janine Rubenstein about her frustration with Kelly.

Day mentioned that Kelly has been "bullying" Osaka even though she "did nothing wrong."

The bullying controversy started when Osaka's recent sports magazine issue cover was unveiled on Monday. Kelly questioned how many times the tennis player appeared in various magazine covers since her French Open withdrawal due to her mental health.

Day clarified that all photos were taken late last year, almost half a year before Osaka publicly opened her mental health struggles.

"It's such bullying and it's so unnecessary, and this woman did nothing wrong... you're journalists. How about you do your job and you fact check instead of jumping all over this woman for attention?' " she said in the podcast episode.

The editor also took to her Instagram stories to call out to share the timestamp of the photos taken and give Kelly a piece of advice, "direct your vitriol somewhere else." she wrote. (via the outlet mentioned above.)

In addition, Day mentioned that Kelly's unnecessary comments are a significant "part of the problem" as it affects discussions with mental health issues.

She stated that the situation broke her heart as Osaka is living her best life while others try to tear her down to pursue her passion.

"Let her live. Let her make decisions for herself that protect her own well-being. It's at no cost to anyone." Day concluded.

Naomi Osaka Blocks Megyn Kelly After Heated Twitter Exchange

In early reports, Kelly claims that Osaka had blocked her following their heated exchange.

"Seeing as you're a journalist I would've assumed you would take the time to research what the lead times are for magazines, if you did that you would've found out I shot all of my covers last year," Naomi Osaka's last reply to Kelly.

The tweet has been deleted and was obtained by Sporting News.

Naomi Osaka's Mental Health Struggles

Last May, the tennis player withdrew from the French Open for the sake of her mental well-being.

The World's No. 2 revealed that she's been suffering from long bouts of depression since 2018, and she's having a hard time facing that.

Osaka added that she's an introvert, and wearing headphones in public helps her deal with social anxiety.

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