Blue-Check Twitter Dunks on NY Post Tweet About Unvaccinated ‘Soulmates’ Who Died of Covid Together
HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/AFP via Getty Images
Verified Twitter users viciously dunked on a New York Post tweet suggesting that an unvaccinated couple who died of Covid while holding hands is the “True definition of soulmates.”
The Post’s tweet read “Unvaxxed couple dies of COVID holding hands: ‘True definition of soulmates’,” and linked to their own aggregation of a story about 73-year-old William Stewart and 69-year-old Carol Stewart, who died of Covid within minutes of each other while holding hands.
Unvaxxed couple dies of COVID holding hands: ‘True definition of soulmates’ https://t.co/ZXOtuFZaqs pic.twitter.com/oGTyiPKtfK
— New York Post (@nypost) January 6, 2022
The Post article cites a WMUR report and a GoFundMe page, but omitted a few key details. Although it was in the headline, the Post article does not contain the “soulmates” quote or its context. It was from the couple’s daughter Melissa Noke, who told WMUR that “They were the true definition of soulmates because it’s like having love birds. You can’t just buy one: you’ve got to buy both.”
The Post also failed to include this message from the couple’s daughter:
Noke said her parents were unvaccinated. She said her message is to get the jab before it’s too late.
Neither article explains why the couple weren’t vaccinated when their entire family became infected at once.
Media figures and other verified Twitter users slammed the tweet and the article as romanticizing a needless tragedy, and in a sign of the times, many also expressed frustration with unvaccinated people.
This… is not romantic. https://t.co/KHY5KcKkvq
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) January 7, 2022
There’s nothing romantic about this. https://t.co/9Q0JVSr4o5
— Young Daddy (@Toure) January 7, 2022
Or they could have gotten vaccinated and lived? https://t.co/t7DyhPCBFB
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) January 7, 2022
Vaccinations are free and safe. https://t.co/c4JazhGKl4
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 7, 2022
JFC. They killed themselves and recklessly put others in danger because they chose to believe lies, and the NY Post romanticizes them as “soul mates.”
Retch. https://t.co/Om6sxNkJEl
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) January 7, 2022
Look at the @nypost romanticizing science deniers dying unnecessarily of a deadly virus. https://t.co/3JIYBn6jj7
— Kimberley Johnson (@AuthorKimberley) January 7, 2022
Or true definition of being reckless and self destructive and dying for no reason when you could’ve gotten a vaccinate. I refuse to romanticize this dangerous stupidity. https://t.co/w1l3OHDPAo
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) January 7, 2022
Everyone’s responsible for their own bad decisions, but my empathy is rising to the surface here. This couple made the mistake of believing malevolent entertainers and professional conmen — they died of COVID *and* of homicidal disinformation. https://t.co/ztYdEOXeN8
— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) January 7, 2022
“Every one of their eight family members tested positive for coronavirus recently”
we all make choices https://t.co/Y1otB3olCb
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) January 7, 2022
What kind of schlock journalism is this? https://t.co/Ot28iIjaEJ
— Michael J. Stern (@MichaelJStern1) January 8, 2022
Why are we romanticizing COVID and people dying of COVID???????? https://t.co/f6CcMkUmzj
— Mark Sundstrom (@106th) January 8, 2022
Did COVID write this headline?🧐 https://t.co/kZQQRNpjV7
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 7, 2022
Romantic. But also they’re now dead. https://t.co/hQEqZY4s1s
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) January 7, 2022
This is a pretty romantic way to frame the preventable death of two people https://t.co/nfpLpooY0j
— Liam Stack (@liamstack) January 7, 2022
Again, neither article states the reason the Stewarts were not vaccinated, but Ms. Noke’s comments indicate a wish that people who can choose should choose to be vaccinated.
