Pop superstar Madonna’s Instagram was flagged for sharing a video containing misinformation on the coronavirus, with the social media platform eventually removing her post.
The post on Madonna’s Instagram contained a video of Dr Stella Immanuel, a controversial figure who claimed hydroxychloroquine cures Covid-19. In the video, Immanuel states, “Nobody needs to get sick. This virus has a cure – it is called hydroxychloroquine, I have treated over 350 patients and not had one death.”
Immanuel is also an evangelical Christian who opposes same-sex marriage, in the past she has also claimed that alien DNA was being used in various medical treatments, that a vaccine was being created which would stop people being religious and that witches and demons having sex with people in their dreams were to blame for certain medical conditions.
Alongside the video, Madonna captioned the post, “The truth will set us all free! But some people don’t want to hear the truth.” It continued that cure for the virus had “been found and proven and has been available for months.” It continued, “They would rather let fear control the people and let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
Initially Instagram blurred out the video, covering it with the words “False Information” and directing people to a page which explained that all the claims in the video were untrue and that there is no vaccine. Eventually, the post was deleted in its entirety.
The video in the post had also been shared by Donald Trump Jnr on Twitter, after which he was subsequently barred from tweeting for 12 hours. It was also retweeted by President Trump and a host of right-wing commentators. While the video was eventually removed from social media sites, it had already been watched millions of times.
The backlash to the post was immediate, with fellow pop star Annie Lennox commenting underneath, “This is utter madness! I can’t believe that you are endorsing this dangerous quackery. Hopefully your site has been hacked and you’re just about to explain it.”
There have been no comments as yet from the pop superstar.
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