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(NewsNation) — When beloved actor Matthew Perry was found dead at his Los Angeles home this weekend, the 54-year-old was unresponsive in his hot tub. While authorities have not yet listed an official cause of death, so many who knew him and his fans immediately thought about his ongoing health issues and his suffering from a long battle with alcoholism and substance abuse.
But for some conspiracy theorists, this wasn’t about celebrating his life or thinking realistically about how he died. It was yet another opportunity to try to link a celebrity death or near-death experience to the COVID-19 vaccine.
During the pandemic, Perry, like a lot of celebrities, encouraged people to get vaccinated. He tweeted out a picture of himself wearing a pro-vaccine T-shirt that played off one of his lines from “Friends” saying, “Can I be any more vaccinated?”
But for the conspiracy crew, this presented a perfect opportunity to suggest it was the vaccine that killed him.
Failed congressional candidate and accused racist Laura Loomer tweeted out, “Wonder if it’s COVID ‘vaccine’ related. He often talked about how he was proud to be extremely vaccinated.”
Kandiss Taylor, a Republican official in Georgia and a primary candidate for governor last year, followed suit, saying, “Not a conspiracy when it is TRUTH. Correlation doesn’t lie. That’s what ALL research does to find significance.”
Former movie producer and podcaster Robby Starbuck tweeted, “While anything is possible, many will point out that Matthew was a big supporter of the COVID vaccines and even sold shirts saying ‘Could I BE Any More Vaccinated?’ so I think it’s fair to ask that it be investigated as a potential cause of any cardiac issues.”
That’s the important part right there — He says, “I think it’s fair to ask.”
Anti-vaxxers aren’t asking a question to get an answer. They’re asking it to cast doubt. Just ask questions. Everyone knows his death had nothing to do with the COVID-19 vaccine, but this is part of a disturbing trend.
Anytime there’s news of a high-profile, surprise, serious illness, injury or death, the anti-vaxxers immediately tried to blame it on the COVID vaccine and claim it’s more evidence of some larger medical conspiracy. We’ve seen it time and time again like when Bob Saget died or when Betty White died. Of course, we saw it when Damar Hamlin collapsed during a “Monday Night Football” game last year.
At the time, Tucker Carlson said: “Hamlin was still lying on the field receiving CPR when self-described medical experts in the media, people with no demonstrated medical ethics at all, effectively witch doctors, decided to use his tragic life-threatening injuries (as) an opportunity to spread still more propaganda about the COVID shots. It could not have been the shot, they told you. Shut up. But they’re lying. They don’t know that. They don’t know anything more than we know, which is effectively nothing. We can’t say it was the shot. We can’t say it wasn’t the shot.”
This is how they play the game. They’re just raising questions. We can’t say it wasn’t. We can’t say it wasn’t from eating too many Froot Loops with their high sugar content. I can’t say that.
They did the same thing when LeBron James’ young son Bronny, who attends the University of Southern California, collapsed on the court during a practice in late July, even though there was nothing to indicate it was vaccine-related. And on Fox News, they were just there asking the questions.
“I think a lot of people see these situations and it does raise questions about the vaccine,” one host said.
Laura Ingraham said: “We do know that myocarditis is a side effect of the vaccine and given everything the so-called experts got wrong during COVID, we shouldn’t condemn anyone who’s asking questions, as these cases seem to be accelerating.”
Right. Just asking questions.
Elon Musk tweeted out about the Bronny James incident, saying: “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing. Myocarditis is a known side effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”
The question is: Is it relevant? It turned out the case of Bronny James was a congenital heart defect. Of course, they never corrected the record once their own questions were answered. They won’t correct the record on Matthew Perry either once the medical examiner’s report comes out. Because after all, they never said it was because the vaccine. They were just, you know, asking questions.