Hollywood celebrities couldn’t resist freaking out after President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement Monday that he is taking hydroxychloroquine with zinc. The commander in chief said that he has been taking the anti-malaria drug for more than a week under his physician’s care and so far feels fine.
Hydroxychloroquine became a media football when President Trump discussed the drug as a possible treatment for coronavirus as early as March during his then-daily press briefings. Some outlets falsely claimed that the president stands to benefit financially from hydroxychloroquine, alleging that he owns a stake in the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi that makes the drug.
But as Breitbart News reported, Trump’s financial disclosures show that his three family trusts each had investments in a $10.3 billion mutual fund that owns shares in Sanofi. His “financial interest” in Sanofi could be as much as $1,485 and as low as $99.10.
Even the left-wing Snopes has debunked claims that the president owns a financial stake in the drugmaker. But that didn’t stop financially illiterate Hollywood stars from resurrecting the hoary claim on Tuesday to smear the president.
Barbra Streisand led the social media charge, implying that President Trump is taking the drug for financial gain.
Mia Farrow also implied that the president has ulterior motives for mentioning hydroxychloroquine. Actor Adam Goldberg echoed the sentiment, wrongly claiming that Trump is an “investor.”
Bette Midler tweeted that the drug has been shown to be “completely ineffective” to combat COVID-19, despite medical evidence showing that some patients have recovered quickly after taking the drug.
Rob Reiner called the president a “fucking moron” for taking hydroxycholorquine, while actor Christopher Meloni called him a “gateway to stupid.”
Similarly, comedian Chelsea Handler called President Trump “stupid” for taking the drug when he doesn’t have the virus, even though the president seemed to suggest that it is a preventative measure. The former Netflix talk show host also appeared to wish physical harm to the president by encouraging him to “swallow a bottle” of Clorox.
The Hangover and Community star Ken Jeong, who’s also an internal medicine physician (and whose wife is a family physician) joked that the president was taking the drug rectally.
Actors Jeffrey Wright, Michael Rapaport, and George Takei resurrected another false story — that President Trump told people to take bleach to kill the coronavirus.
The West Wing actor Josh Malina called the president a “rat” for taking the drug.
Actor Ethan Embry said that “there’s no way a physician would give someone as unhealthy as [Trump] Hydroxychloroquine.”
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