Rob Schmidt—a host for the far-right disinformation outlet Newsmax—became the latest right wing media personality to promote hysteria over vaccines which have been proven to keep others from contracting the virus that's killed over 600 thousand Americans.
Schmidt said earlier this week:
"Obviously, I'm not a doctor but I've always thought about vaccines, and I always think about just nature, and the way everything works, and I feel like a vaccination in a weird way is just generally kind of going against nature. Like, I mean, if there is some disease out there—maybe there's just an ebb and flow to life where something's supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people, and that's just kind of the way evolution goes. Vaccines kind of stand in the way of that."
His comments were met with widespread outcry, along with a thorough debunking from an actual expert.
Now, Schmidt's own network is disavowing his comments and voiced rare support for President Joe Biden's initiative to get more Americans vaccinated.
Newsmax said in a statement to the Washington Post:
"Newsmax as a network strongly supports President Biden's efforts to widely distribute the COVID vaccine. It is important for the safety of all and especially those at high risk, such as the elderly."
People pointed out that the network's statement is in complete opposition to the diatribes it allows to air.
Newsmax claimed in a statement that it "strongly supports President Biden\u2019s efforts to widely distribute the COVID vaccine." Its on-air programming certainly doesn't reflect that. (via @JasonSCampbell)https://www.mediamatters.org/newsmax/newsmaxs-campaign-undermine-covid-19-vaccination\u00a0\u2026— Eric Hananoki (@Eric Hananoki) 1626206826
Loser network promoting disinformation. Propaganda you are Newsmax— Bob Vrbanac (@Bob Vrbanac) 1626276876
Disingenuous nonsense. Serious gaslighting there @newsmax.\nSay whatever you want on air then follow it up with letterhead saying the exact opposite. \nThats some '1984' stuff that Orwell never envisioned.— Z (@Z) 1626207211
It's called covering your legal ass— wade shepard (@wade shepard) 1626275818
When you have to clarify that your ENTIRE organization isn\u2019t against medicine and science, just that one guy that you\u2019ve given air time consistently, you might be a right wing cancer on society.— The other Theodosius II (@The other Theodosius II) 1626275732
It\u2019s like *really* important to us! But not *so* important that we\u2019re going to do anything about our staff who are working to undermine it. Clear!?— \ud83c\udd7d\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd84\ud83c\udd76\ud83c\udd77\ud83c\udd83 \ud83c\udd75\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd7b\ud83c\udd7b\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd86\ud83c\udd74\ud83c\udd81\ud83c\udd82 (@\ud83c\udd7d\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd84\ud83c\udd76\ud83c\udd77\ud83c\udd83 \ud83c\udd75\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd7b\ud83c\udd7b\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd86\ud83c\udd74\ud83c\udd81\ud83c\udd82) 1626207019
Meanwhile, Schmidt continues to face criticism.
In the meanwhile, dude probably got himself vaccinated quietly. Just spreading misinformation to stir their base.— Mary Pruter (@Mary Pruter) 1626279802
Using that logic his hair gel is against nature.— Pious Men (@Pious Men) 1626275487
To anyone who thinks certain things are against nature:\n\nHas it ever occurred to you that pretty much every human creation does not follow what occurs elsewhere in nature? Human civilization thrived because we used our intelligence to beat the obstacles of nature.— Anthony Lee, Voice Actor (@Anthony Lee, Voice Actor) 1626276068
Nevertheless, Newsmax is likely to continue letting its on-air personalities amplify disinformation.
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