Michael Moore draws fury for suggesting that 'precious' COVID vaccines should be withheld from Texas because the state's governor lifted mask mandate
Filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore is facing condemnation from across the political spectrum over remarks suggesting that Texans should not receive COVID-19 vaccines after the state lifted rules requiring masks in public.
'Texas - we hear you. You didn't want to be part of our electrical grid. And now you've removed your mask mandate & are allowing large crowds to gather,' Moore wrote in a tweet this week.
'We hear you! COVID is a hoax! So u don't need our precious vaccine. We'll send it to ppl who are saving lives by wearing masks,' he added.
It came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, this week lifted pandemic restrictions on businesses and lifted a rule requiring face coverings in public.
Filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore is facing condemnation from across the political spectrum over remarks suggesting that Texans should not receive COVID-19 vaccines
A group of women walk into a bar on Thursday, March 4, in Austin, Texas. Governor Greg Abbott Announced Wednesday that he will be ending the state wide mandatory mask mandate
Confirmed daily new cases of COVID are down to October levels, state data shows
Mississippi's Republican governor made similar moves, and the Democratic governor of Connecticut eased business restrictions while maintaining the state's mask rules.
Moore's comments drew swift backlash, even from those who clearly opposed Abbott's decisions.
'My family lives there, Michael. Like many millions of other Texans, they neither voted Republican nor agree with their agenda. There's no monolithic Texas,' tweeted former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
'This is stupid, pompous and arrogant. You don't write off an entire population of people. Such a broad generalization,' tweeted Dallas Morning News sports reporter Evan grant. 'It's not funny. It's not profound. It's just stupid and mean.'
'Applying a political litmus test to vaccine distribution is unethical and un-American. We're all in this together,' wrote former Obama administration official Andrew Weinstein.
'I've been wearing my mask for a year. I volunteered for democrats up and down the ballot. This is a garbage take,' wrote one Texan.
'People deserve to be safe and healthy no matter who they voted for. Humanity isn't a partisan value,' wrote Daily Beast editor at large Molly Jong-Fast.
'Makes about as much sense as saying 'Michigan - we hear you. You don't want clean water,'' tweeted Don Moynihan, a political science professor at Georgetown University.
Facing furious backlash, Moore backpedaled in a series of tweets, saying 'Yes, we must and will find a way to vaccinate the poor and people of color in Texas.'
'Texas is no longer majority white. The 57% majority is Latinx and Black and Asian and Native American. So let's do everything we can to help that majority remove the bigots and ignoramuses from office. It's killing them, and it's killing us,' he added.
A healthcare worker administers the second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Ratliff Stadium Mass Vaccination Site on Tuesday, March 2 in Odessa, Texas
However, Moore expressed little sympathy for Texas residents who oppose Abbott's moves, writing: 'To Texans who say, hey, it's not me - it's the Governor! Well, then, impeach and remove him. We're tired of this.'
As of Friday, Texas had a seven-day rolling average of 4,300 daily new confirmed cases, down from a peak near 20,000 in January.
The Lone Star state ranks 24th in the nation in per capita deaths throughout the pandemic, a better record than nearly half of all the states.
Abbott's repeal of most COVID-19 restrictions - saying it was 'time to open Texas 100%' - reverberated across the state and to the White House.
President Joe Biden reacted to America's second-largest state winding down virus restrictions for nearly 30 million people, calling it 'Neanderthal thinking.'
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