The anti-vax movement is made up of people who believe that vaccines can lead to any number of complications, illnesses, or developmental problems such as autism. To be clear, science does not support these ideas.
Understandably, a lot of people on social media are quick to attempt to correct people who spout anti-vax beliefs, as they have the potential to be truly dangerous. Children who do not get vaccines, for example, can literally die; people who are immuno-compromised can also be at risk. (See: why herd immunity is a big deal).
Terry Rossio, a Hollywood screenwriter who worked on big Disney productions, including Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek, is apparently sticking up for anti-vaxxers in his spare time. Even worse? He decided to use a racial slur in a sad attempt at making his point.
Rossio tweeted:
“My heart goes out to all the parents of vaccine damaged children, who have to not only endure the sadness of their loss, but also the vitriol of ill-informed and insensitive people (such as those here). Anti-Vax is equivalent to calling someone a [n-word] and makes as little sense.”
Note: He used the full racial slur in his tweet.
The tweet, which has since been deleted, was in response to another Hollywood writer, Julie Benson, tweeting to promote a vaccine donation drive via UNICEF:
Benson responded to him, calling out his use of the incredibly offensive slur, but Rossio didn’t budge:
Promoting anti-vax ideas is without doubt dangerous. Trying to make false equivalencies with racial slurs is a whole other level of sickening.