Jim Carrey Apologizes for Tweeting Photo of Autistic Boy During Vaccine Rant
One day after actor Jim Carrey tweeted a photo of a young autistic boy named Alex in an attempt to bolster his anti-vaccine argument, he has issued an apology to the boy’s family on Twitter. He did not, however, apologize for calling California Governor Jerry Brown a “corporate fascist” for supporting a mandatory vaccination policy.
I'd like to apologize to the Echols family and others for posting a pic of their kids w/o permission.I didn't mean to cause them distress.
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 3, 2015
After Carrey posted the photo without permission, the boy’s mother, Karen Echols, created her own Twitter account to demand he take it down:
@JimCarrey Please remove this photo of my son. You do not have permission to use his image.
— Karen Echols (@karen_echols) July 2, 2015
His aunt also used Instagram to spread the word about Carrey’s transgression and inform him and his followers that Alex, who “suffers from Autism and tuberous sclerosis” was diagnosed with “these conditions before he was ever vaccinated.”
Like his ex-wife, Jenny McCarthy, Carrey insists that he is not “anti-vaccine” but rather that he is “anti-thimerosal” and “anti-mercury,” referring to the neurotoxins that he claims can still be found in certain vaccinations.
Of course, as has been widely reported, the study that originally linked vaccines to autism was ultimately retracted and found to be based on fraudulent data.
[Photo via screengrab]
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