Woody Harrelson joins wave of celebrities spreading coronavirus conspiracy theories tied to 5G towers
Baseless conspiracy theories about 5G networks exacerbating the coronavirus pandemic are being blamed for a series of attacks of cellphone towers in the UK. However, at the same time, these unfounded claims are being popularized by influential celebrities like Woody Harrelson.
UK officials have said all the fires reported at 5G towers in Birmingham, Liverpool and Belfast have been blamed on such conspiracy theories, which range from 5G signals causing the outbreak to the pathogen being started to cover up for health ailments caused by the networks, the New York Post reports.
The damaged phone lines are critical for emergency services battling the pandemic, UK Cabinet minister Michael Gove insisted, describing the theories as "dangerous nonsense."
But the claims are now being massively popularized by celebrities, who are sharing them with millions of their followers on social media.
Recently, Hollywood veteran Woody Harrelson, who has more than 2 million followers on Instagram, shared a report on the photo-sharing site “about the negative effects of 5G” and how it may have contributed to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I haven’t fully vetted it I find it very interesting,” he wrote of the article, which claimed “5G radiation” is “exacerbating” the pathogen's spread and making it more life-threatening.
Harrelson's post got more than 25,000 likes.
Meanwhile, rapper-singer M.I.A. recently said that even if 5G does not cause COVID-19, it “can confuse or slow the body down in the healing process as the body is learning to cope with new signals wavelength s frequency, etc @ same time as Cov.”
The Paper Planes hitmaker then posted a photo of one of the burning cellphone towers.
“People in England are setting fire to it. They should just turn it off till after the pandemic!” she wrote.
'Ex on the Beach' star Calum Best took to Instagram and shared a YouTube link to a lecture about the virus while writing alongside, “I say no to 5G."
Former 'Dancing on Ice' judge Jason Gardiner tweeted a video titled 'The Threat of 5G'.
“Doctors and @WHO ask Governments to halt roll-out of 5G. Here’s why!!” he wrote alongside the post.
Also, Blue singer Lee Ryan told his Instagram followers “truth will prevail without violence."
“Guys I have to say this!!! Do not start burning up 5g towers!!!!!!!!" he added alongside the picture of a mast on fire. "This is not the way to stand up against it.”
However, the UK's national medical director Professor Stephen Powis has deemed the theories “outrageous” and “absolute and utter rubbish.”
“I’m absolutely outraged, absolutely disgusted, that people would be taking action against the very infrastructure that we need to respond to this health emergency," he told Saturday's Downing Street press conference. “It is absolute and utter rubbish.”
And speaking to the Evening Standard, Dr Michael Head of the University of Southampton warned that such "ignorance" could prove dangerous in the long run.
“Conspiracy theorists are a public health danger who once read a Facebook page,” he told the Evening Standard. “The celebrities fanning the flames of these conspiracy theorists should be ashamed.”