Actor Rob Schneider has sparked controversy again after suggesting that professional basketball icon Dikembe Mutombo died on Monday at the age of 58 after receiving the coronavirus vaccine.
The 60-year-old Deuce Bigelow and the Hot Chick star resurfaced Mutombo’s 2021 video promoting information from the World Health Organization about coronavirus vaccinations on X, showing that he believes Mutombo’s opinions. It drew heavy criticism on Monday after he quoted the post with a suggestive caption. The brain tumor death on September 30th was actually caused by the vaccine.
“Rest in peace…I’m sure this is just (another) coincidence,” Schneider wrote on the social media site. “But I passed the jab and I won’t let anyone I know (and listen) pass the jab!”
Rob Schneider. Dikembe Mutombo.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty; Paras Griffin/Getty
Replies to Schneider’s message accused the performers of promoting misinformation, with one person replying, “No more propaganda. (It’s) old.”
“You’re despicable. He had cancer,” wrote another user, while another tagged Schneider’s frequent collaborator Adam Sandler, writing, “@AdamSandler so despicable. I sincerely hope that you will reconsider your friendship with someone who says, “You.” Dikembe knows this is terrible. ”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Schneider, Mutombo and a representative from the WHO for comment.
Mutombo’s first message, posted on December 24, 2021, urged his followers to “stay informed and get vaccinated from trusted sources like @WHO,” and added, ” Only by coming together can we ensure safety and defeat the coronavirus.”
Schneider’s claims come in the wake of a wave of misinformation about vaccines featured by the WHO on its website. In December 2023, the organization announced that 13 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered since the pandemic began, preventing “millions of severe illnesses and deaths,” and that vaccines are widely available. “It has undergone rigorous and rigorous testing through multiple stages of clinical trials” before it is ready for consumption.
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In addition to the backlash over his views, Schneider’s relationship with his daughter, musician Elle King, also made headlines. This is because the “X and O’s” singer opened up about her relationship with her estranged father. Because of this, Schneider publicly apologized to King, 35, during an interview with Tucker Carlson, but King expressed his displeasure.
“A lot of people said, ‘How can she say that about her family?'” and “Everything needs to be done behind closed doors.” No, it’s not,” she told PEOPLE. “Sometimes you just have to put it into words and get it off your chest so you don’t have to carry it with you for the rest of your life.”
