But angry users lit up other posts on his page with debunked claims about vaccine safety and personal attacks saying he “sold his soul” for “promoting killer injections.” The two-time Super Bowl champion disabled comments under his September Instagram post sharing the ad. His paid partnership with Pfizer shows him flashing a pair of bandages on his shoulder while encouraging viewers to get the latest Covid-19 booster and a flu shot at the same time. Kelce has long advocated for Covid-19 vaccination, which have proven safe, appearing in a 2021 promotion for the shots with US pharmacy chain Walgreens. “And people know that anything about the couple, true or false, will attract attention.” “The Kelce-Swift photos are all over the internet,” Ophir told AFP. “Celebrities in this case simply serve as an easy hook for pulling large amounts of people into the conspiracy world.” “Anti-scientific voices often abuse trending stories,” said Yotam Ophir, an expert on health misinformation at the University of Buffalo. Similar allegations casting vaccines as deadly dominated X and other sites after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed in a February incident resulting from a blow to his chest. The attempts to hijack the narrative surrounding the celebrity duo underscore how promoters of vaccine misinformation readily take advantage of the day’s headlines. “What will break Kelce’s heart first? The Covid shot or Taylor Swift?” Charlie Kirk, founder of conservative organization Turning Point USA, wrote in one of several posts AFP saw echoing a conspiracy theory about the jabs triggering cardiac arrests in athletes.Īnother post from a top promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory on X, formerly Twitter, went a step further: “He wants to make sure you get your DOUBLE kill shot.” Vaccine skeptics are attacking Travis Kelce for participating in a Pfizer advertisement, recycling conspiracy theories about Covid-19 shots as the NFL star is getting attention for his rumored romance with pop icon Taylor Swift.Īs Swift’s fans flooded social media with reactions to her appearance at last Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Chicago Bears, some of the internet’s most notorious disinformers exploited the buzz, falsely claiming in posts naming the tight end that vaccines cause widespread heart problems or kill people.
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