Kiwi singing legend Sir Dave Dobbyn has come out in support of the Covid vaccine - but says the fight should be against the virus, not people.
The 64-year-old has taken to Facebook to express his views and to declare his own vaccination status.
"I am double vaccinated. I encourage it for everyone. But I call out the unkindness directed at those who haven't yet taken the step."
He ended the post, shared late this morning, with the hashtag: "Fight Covid not humanity."
The post comes after he faced some controversy on social media site Twitter yesterday - with the Loyal singer seemingly deleting his Twitter account as a result.
Responding to a tweet by writer Hamish Keith, saying the unvaccinated will feel isolated and picked on and "so they bloody well should", Dobbyn said: "I thought we're fighting Covid, not humanity."
To which Keith replied: "I hope you missed my point. There are a number of people for reasons against reason putting the health of the rest of us at risk - that is I believe a dangerous and possibly lethal point of few - should we simply shrug it off?"
Dobbyn said perhaps Keith was right.
"But one could suspect mandate's (sic) and authoritarianism could become far more lethal in the medium term.
"Especially in a climate of fashionable neo-Marxism. History proves it over & over."
Dobbyn's tweets resulted in people claiming he was anti-vax and believed in conspiracy theories.
Fans were quick to come his defence, however, with many praising his decision to clear up his stance on Facebook today after yesterday's "troll" session on Twitter, as some called it.
"Thanks, Dave. All that rubbish on Twitter yesterday was absolutely ridiculous," one woman wrote.
"Good on you for deleting your account. Wish I had the courage."
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