The left-wing Hollywood celebrities are stoking public hysteria over the coronavirus, using social media to spread fear as well as disinformation about President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly global outbreak.
While some stars are using the coronavirus to re-air their hatred of all things Trump, many other celebrities are fanning the flames by making false claims about President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, accusing the White House of lying to the American public and exacerbating the problem.
Comedian Chelsea Handler repeated the false claim that President Trump suggested that people who have “tested positive for coronavirus can still go to work and get better there.”
But President Trump never said or suggested what Handler claims he did. The president was speaking during an interview this week on Fox News’ Hannity in which he described some situations in which people who have contracted coronavirus only experience a mild case of the illness and quickly recover.
President Trump said that some of these people chose to go to work and eventually got better, but he never recommended that they do so.
“So, if we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better,” Trump said.
Rosie O’Donnell claimed without evidence that “the president and the vice president are lying to us,” tweeting out the hashtag #Coronavirus.
Actor Jeffrey Wright spread the false allegation that Tony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, needs Vice President Pence’s approval to speak publicly.
But Fauci has denied the claim, saying during a recent White House briefing: “Let me clarify. I have never been muzzled — ever.” He said that the rumor arose out of a misunderstanding.
“We were set up to go on some shows, and when the vice president took over, we said, ‘Let’s regroup and figure out how we’re going to be communicating.’ So I had to just stand down on a couple of shows and resubmit for clearance. And when I resubmitted for clearance, I got cleared.”
Singer-actress Cher also claimed that President Trump is lying, adding that he kept quiet about the coronavirus because “he knew we weren’t prepared.”
But Cher omitted the fact that President Trump restricted entry to the U.S. from China as early as February 1, a decision that was widely reported at the time. A few days before, President Trump tweeted out photos of his White House coronavirus task force.
Actor Bradley Whitford offered up this unhinged take on Vice President Mike Pence’s qualifications for handling the Coronavirus on behalf of the Trump White House.
Actress Bette Midler tweeted that President Trump is “utterly useless” in a crisis as evidence by his “throwing paper towels at suffering Puerto Ricans after [Hurricane] Maria.”
But President Trump didn’t do what Midler claimed. In a widely shared video, the president tossed rolls of paper towels to an appreciative and cheering crowd assembled at a disaster relief distribution center near San Juan.
Actor Jason Alexander made the stunning and unverifiable claim that President Trump and the Republican party “would rather see you and yours sicken and die rather than admit they were/are wrong.”
Actor Ron Perlman is the latest celebrity to spread the fake news that President Trump called the coronavirus a “hoax.” In fact, the president used the word “hoax” at a recent campaign rally to describe efforts by Democrats to politicize the virus.
Filmmaker Adam McKay also repeated the fake news. Last week, Debra Messing and Cher both repeated the false claim on social media.
Actor Michael Ian Black ginned up public fear by recently telling President Trump “your incompetence is going to get a lot of people killed.”
Barbra Streisand and actor John Leguizamo joined in the pile-on by trashing Vice President Pence, blaming him for an outbreak of HIV in rural Indiana during his tenure as governor. The outbreak was in fact due to drug addicts using dirty needles to shoot up.
Filmmaker Rob Reiner tweeted that President Trump “needs to be quarantined,” referring to the president as the “lying moron.”
Actress Minnie Driver used the coronavirus as an opportunity to mock Vice President Pence’s Christian faith.
Alyssa Milano took coronavirus hysteria to another level by suggesting that President Trump could be impeached for his response to the virus.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.