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John McAfee wears thong mask at airport, arrested after he refuses to wear medical mask 'for health's sake'

'I am insisting it is the safest available and I'm refusing to wear anything else'

Eccentric tech millionaire John McAfee took to social media to reveal he had been arrested by Norwegian authorities for refusing to wear a medically-certified mask over the ladies thong that he had sported as a face covering at an airport. McAfee, 75, who made his fortune via the first commercial antivirus software that now bears his name, went on Twitter to share how the Norwegian authorities were not impressed he was using a thong for a mask.

He had been in the country for a meeting of his group called the 'Red Scarf Society' and announced he would be late because he had gotten into trouble at the airport. "I am being detained in Norway," he wrote. "Trivial issue but waiting for high level beaurocrats to arrive. Slow bastards, as you know."

He went on to share several pictures of himself sporting the thong contraption and insisted he was doing so because a regular mask would not be good for his health. "My Coronavirus mask is the problem," he declared. "I am insisting it is the safest available and I'm refusing to wear anything else — for my health's sake."

Soon after those initial tweets, his wife Janice McAfee took over his account to share that the meeting had been canceled because her husband had been arrested. She said she would be providing the updates on the situation until "he escapes (usual method), bribes someone (very quick - might be out in a few hours), retains the right lawyer (will be a few days) or becomes warden of the jail, in which case we will have to force him out."

Janice, who revealed that she had only been detained while McAfee had been arrested, then defended her husband's move and described the science behind it. "He was not arrested for wearing the thong as a mask. He was arrested for refusing to replace it with a 'medically certified' over the ear mask," she wrote. "I refused as well. But they chose to arrest John, and leave me be."

"His thong mask: It doesn't recycle his exhaled carbon dioxide, like over the ear masks (Breathing impaired people are exempt from wearing masks because masks impair respiration)," she explained. "Masks stop bacteria. Not viruses people! He was arrested for what he believes."

In further updates, she shared that she was having champagne while waiting for him to be freed before announcing that she was following his instructions and heading back home to Belarus. "Hello everybody, I'm here on our private jet," she said in a video. "I received instructions from John through a private connection that he wanted me to go home and wait for his arrival. So, hopefully - you know him, he got this, so you'll be hearing from him soon, in a few hours I'm sure. In the meantime I'm headed home with our bodyguards and hopefully we'll be hearing from him in a few hours. Take care!"

McAfee eventually took control of his account again and shared a picture of himself with a bruised face following his encounter with the authorities. "I'm back in Belarus and, with the exception of a black eye, no worse for wear," he wrote. "I cannot speak publicly about my fun and games yesterday, regrettably, but after a few hours sleep I will be back with my usual stream of conscious:)"

He also explained his version of the events that had transpired. "I was jailed: Why? Visited Catalonia just before Europe banned Catalonians from traveling. Tried to return to Germany and were refused entrance. They demanded we wear masks. I put on my thong mask. They demanded I replace it. I refused. Tussle. Jail. Black eye. Released."