While certain celebs are doing what they can to spread helpful information about best health practices and safe physical distancing (see: Stephen Colbert, Jennifer Aniston, Lady Gaga, etc.), others are doing a deep dive into the murky world of misinformation (see: Roseanne). Among the latest celebs to sound off on the Coronavirus pandemic is Woody Harrelson, who's posting that cell towers *might* be behind this new disease. Spoiler alert: No. No, they are not.In a series of Instagram posts that have since disappeared (now
there’s a conspiracy!) Harrelson posited the theory that 5G technology, the fifth and newest generation of wireless infrastructure, and COVID-19 could be linked.“A lot of my friends have been talking about the negative effects of 5G,”
wrote the
Hunger Games star (though now that we think about it, this theory seems in line with something Harrelson’s hapless
Cheers character might come up with). “My friend Camilla seems [sic] this to me today and though I haven’t fully vetted it I find it very interesting.”[video_embed id='1935629']RELATED: Michael Bublé urges Canadians to take physical distancing seriously[/video_embed]Harrelson’s original post was accompanied by a second one showing protesters destroying cell phone towers during the riots in Hong Kong. Harrelson, however, described the photos as pictures coming out of China and implied that the motive for tearing down the towers was their connection to coronavirus. Oh boy.Let’s just, for a second, go back to that “I haven’t fully vetted it” thing. Is Woody Harrelson, Hollywood actor, even qualified to “vet” information about the intersection of virus epidemiology and wireless technology? We’re going to climb way out onto this limb and say: Nah. Is spreading this kind of information during a pandemic helpful? Also: Nah.Harrelson isn’t alone in his ill-informed (and dangerous) delusion. John Cusack (who routinely tweets about 150 times a day) has
also stated (and erased) his belief that 5G is a health risk.Perhaps a little
social media distancing should be prescribed for these stars?[video_embed id='1934687']BEFORE YOU GO: John Krasinski dropped a star-studded second episode of ‘Some Good News’[/video_embed]
