Whenever a global news story like COVID-19 hits, it’s inevitable that there will be a group of people that go on social media and spread disinformation and “fake news” that was gleaned from some less than reputable source. Normally, that person is your crazy Uncle Jerry that gets his news from the memes that float around Facebook. But rarely does someone spreading terrible conspiracy theories and blatantly false information have as much of a “reach” as ‘Fast & Furious’ actor Tyrese Gibson.
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In a completely irresponsible and dangerous post, Gibson took to his Instagram (which has 12.2 million followers) to share a video that has been making its way around conspiracy theory message boards and some of the more ridiculous and insane corners of social media that attempts to explain that the United States government is going to shut down the entire country and quarantine the population beginning in a couple of weeks.
As is normally the case with these sorts of dangerous, provocational videos, there are no legitimate sources attributed and no facts to back it up. But of course, it was enough for a star in one of the biggest franchises in the world to share to his millions of followers on social media, which does nothing but further escalate the panic and irrationality that the population experiences during times like this.
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Now, before someone says, “Oh, but maybe Tyrese was only kidding when he shared it,” you need to understand that nowhere in his post does he talk about how its a joke or something to be taken lightly. In fact, he said the opposite, writing, “Listen y’all I ain’t really freak out about anything until I heard this.”
Long story short, don’t believe everything you read on social media. And please, don’t use Tyrese Gibson as your coronavirus expert.
Again, we are only sharing this as a way to tell people about how FALSE it is. Do not believe the content of the below video: