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Jake Paul slammed as 'dumb' for calling Covid-19 a 'hoax', Internet asks YouTube to ban him

'Covid cases are at less than 1%, and I think the disease is a hoax,' Paul said in an interview

Covid-19 is one issue that has landed many dignitaries and high profile personalities, including President Donald Trump, in the soup. Now, Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul has been mired in controversies after he called Covid-19 “a hoax.” His comments came at a crucial juncture when the global pandemic has killed more than 250,000 Americans.  

In an interview with The Daily Beast, on November 25, Jake Paul voiced his stand on the pandemic. He said it is a “controversial subject” and that the country needs to “open up and go back to normal.” When the 23-year-old was asked if he believed it was time to move away from lockdowns, said he was “100%” certain, before elaborating on his stance.

Paul said in the interview, “There are people losing jobs, there are small businesses who are going bankrupt, there are millions of people who are unemployed right now, people are turning to alcohol and drugs to cope with everything that’s going on. This is the most detrimental thing to our society,” He went on and said, “Covid cases are at less than 1%, and I think the disease is a hoax.” Paul continued, “You know, 98% of news is fake, so how do we know what’s actually real, and what we’re actually supposed to do?”

Paul was then told by interviewer Marlow Stern that the virus has killed nearly 260,000 Americans to which the boxer said “so has the flu”.In July this year, Calabasas Mayor Alicia Weintraub said she was “outraged” at Paul after the YouTuber-boxer hosted a big all-day party at his residence. “I don’t know what to think of it, to be honest. I don’t think anyone really does,” Paul later told Business Insider about Covid-19 in July. “No one has answers, our leadership is failing us, and everyone kind of just doesn’t know what to do. But I personally am not the type of person who’s gonna sit around and not live my life.”

Paul might be a big star who rose to fame on YouTube, where he now has more than 20 million subscribers, however, his comments on the pandemic were seen as inappropriate by many on the Internet. As a result, people took to Twitter to slam him. A user who was enraged wrote, “Jake Paul are you seriously an idiot? Covid-19 ain’t no joke bruh! You living in Cali to long that your brain is damaged? You must be a Trump supporter because you are an idiot if you think it’s a hoax!” Another wrote against Paul, “So Jake Paul said that covid-19 is a hoax. I knew he was dumb but not on that level.”

A user urged to ban him, “You Tube can you ban Jake Paul already and get rid of his shit? He’s now spreading insane false information regarding covid-19 and spreading so many lies it’s ridiculous. He’s endangering so many people with this.” Another concurred, “Only thing worse than Jake Paul is COVID-19”. A user targetted his career, "lmao jake paul really said 'covid-19 is a hoax, people should start acting normal' but bro the only hoax here is your damn career, sit down and wear a fucking mask yeah."