Carrie Underwood’s Views On Masking Kids Have The Internet Freaking Out
Carrie Underwood has come under fire for liking an anti-mask tweet.
This article is more than 2 years old
Carrie Underwood is being cancelled online for liking an anti-mask mandate tweet made by conservative blogger Matt Walsh. The American Idol alum showed her support for Walsh’s two-minute video addressing the Nashville School Board last week.
Carrie Underwood fans were not happy once they realized their favorite country singer supported anti-mask sentiments despite the ongoing global pandemic. Covid-19 has killed more than four million people around the world, with cases of the highly contagious Delta variant still surging globally.
In the controversial video that Carrie Underwood liked, Walsh makes several false claims while addressing the Board of Education. This includes implying that the virus poses almost no risk to kids, with only .008 deaths out of more than four million child cases.
He added that making children wear masks can be classified as “child abuse.” The statement was met with rounds of applause from the parents attending the meeting. “What if a parent forced his kid to wear a football helmet all day every day, for fear of falling coconuts and meteors?” he argued. “If you saw that, you would say he’s abusive.” Walsh went on to criticize the school board for teaching children that the air is toxic, that everyone around them is sick.
Carrie Underwood, a mother of two young boys has previously voiced support for progressive issues (namely gay marriage) in the past. But like many singers in her genre, she’s said she opts to stay out of politics in public because nobody wins. “It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that,” she told The Guardian in 2019.
Although Walsh’s tweet is from last week, the revelation that Carrie Underwood had liked it began circulating on Tuesday. Fans immediately described her actions as embarrassing and dangerous. And they wasted no time voicing their displeasure online. “Just saw the Carrie Underwood news. Please respect my privacy at this time”, said one Twitter user.
While someone else wrote, “It’s not just that Carrie Underwood liked an anti-mask tweet. It’s that Carrie Underwood liked an anti-mask tweet from Matt Walsh, one of those most negligently histrionic voices on the topic of protecting kids from COVID.”
Another fan said, “Your reminder that Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher don’t give a damn about the pandemic, or how many people have died unnecessarily from it. Do better, @carrieunderwood.”
Following Nashville’s first week of school, 1000 students and staff are under quarantine or isolation. Data from the Student Health Service department (via Daily Mail) between August 9th and 15th revealed there were 207 confirmed positive Covid-19 cases among students and 52 among staff.
And according to John’s Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, more than 31000 cases and 142 new deaths have been reported in Tennessee in the past week, with a test positivity rate of 21.94%,
Meanwhile, the CDC stands by its stance on mask-wearing as they are primarily intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets. This is especially relevant for asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others, and who are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions.
