Website of the YearNew Zealand-born ballroom dancer Brendan Cole has been slammed for a social media post in which he doubted the efficacy of wearing masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The former "Strictly Come Dancing" pro has come under fire for his "totally irresponsible" Instagram post in which he attempted to argue there was no proof that masks stopped Covid-19.
"The first randomised trial of more than 6000 individuals to assess the effectiveness of surgical face masks against Sars-CoV-2 infection did not statistically significantly reduce the incident of infection," he posted.
"The so-called 'Danmask-19 Trial,' published November 18, 2020, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, included 3,030 individuals assigned to wear a surgical face mask and 2,994 unmasked controls."
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Advertise with NZME.The post was a "repost" from another account.
Cole's fans were quick to criticise him for sharing the message, urging him to delete the post. Many also let him know they'd be unfollowing him for spreading "misinformation" and "putting others at risk".
Medical professionals also weighed in in the comments.
"Think before you share c**p that fits what you want to believe otherwise you become directly responsible for people coming to harm," Dr Joshua Wolrich commented.
"Do the right thing and delete this information."
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"That is not what we need at the moment. Follow the bl***y guidance and wear to protect others," a nurse from Scotland also said.
"I work in healthcare and have had patients refuse to wear masks because of this type of misinformation putting others at risk," another one of his followers said.
The UK-based Kiwi dancer was accused of spreading "fake news" and told to "stick to dancing".
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Advertise with NZME.This is not the first time the Kiwi pro dancer has shared his controversial views on the pandemic.
"For the first time in recent history we are being controlled in so many ways. Why can we not protest?" he previously wrote.
"Why can we not have an opinion and discuss these differences of opinion openly without being silenced or called names," he added.