UPDATED 3/17, 9:30 a.m. ET: Keri Hilson has deleted her coronavirus messages at her management's request. "I appreciate good discourse on unconventional thinking," she tweeted. "Let’s all just be safe out there, cuz whatever the cause the virus a real thing."
Hilson went on to tweet more conventional COVID-19 thoughts.
See original story below.
A recklessly unfortunate side effect of ongoing COVID-19 fears is the rapid spread of reckless misinformation and impassioned (but no less reckless) breakdowns of conspiracy theories.
As your Twitter timeline has likely informed you by now, the latest public figure to engage in the latter is Keri Hilson. Her conspiracy theory of choice is centered around an effort to link 5G wireless technology to the proliferation of COVID-19, which—as Politifactpointed out earlier this month—constitutes a falsehood.
"People have been trying to warn us about 5G for YEARS," Hilson said on Twitter over the weekend. "Petitions, organizations, studies...what we're going thru is the affects of radiation."
From there, Hilson shared screenshot-captured conspiracy theory readings, shouted out an IG account, and asked her followers "Why do you think the virus is not happening in Africa like that?"
Later, she said she was prepping for a possible two-week lockdown.
The blowback, of course, was swift:
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Previous coronavirus-inspired misinformation spreads have included the Facebook-popularized false claim of cocaine being a cure, as well as the recent revelation that people were apparently actually listening to a dumbfuck televangelist's advice on downing "Silver Sol Liquid" to thwart the virus.
For a handy guide on various falsehoods popping up around COVID-19, consult this.
