Press
In a series of tweets posted on Wedneday night, M.I.A. compared celebrities “pushing” COVID-19 vaccines to the lies InfoWars' Alex Jones told about the Sandy Hook school shooting. Earlier in the day, Jones was ordered to pay $965m to families of the victims who suffered from his false claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy was a hoax, leading M.I.A. to tweet: "If Alex jones pays for lying shouldn’t every celebrity pushing vaccines pay too?"
The tweet led to immediate pushback and criticism from fellow Twitter users. Defending herself, M.I.A. compared what Jones has said about the shooting to “Pfizer lying.” She posted a screenshot that showed a list of trending topics featuring both Jones and a Reuters article about the effect of vaccines on COVID transmission captioned with “Alex jones lying and Pfizer lying both trending. One with penalty other without.” Many users pointed out that the Reuters post clearly stated that vaccines help reduce transmission by preventing infection.
She went on to claim that she has "different kinds of receipts" and claimed she is regularly proven right about the things she believes. “If you have no critical thinking faculty, this is about as crazy as we should get before a nuclear war wipe out the human race,” she added.
If Alex jones pays for lying shouldn’t every celebrity pushing vaccines pay too ?
— M.I.A. (@MIAuniverse) October 12, 2022
Alex jones lying and Pfizer lying both trending . One with penalty other without. If you have no critical thinking faculty, this is about as crazy as we should get before a nuclear war wipe out the human race. pic.twitter.com/li0yz5qHvj
— M.I.A. (@MIAuniverse) October 12, 2022
The timing of M.I.A.'s tweets comes just two days out from the release of new album MATA, her first release in over six years. The album, which features the single "Beep," is due out October 14.
The FADER has reached out for comment.
