Sean Ono Lennon says media ‘lost their legitimacy’ over coronavirus coverage by Zachary Halaschak
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sean-ono-lennon-says-media-lost-their-legitimacy-over-coronavirus-coverage
Musician Sean Ono Lennon has an issue with the media’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lennon, the 44-year-old son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, vented on Twitter Wednesday about the way that some in the media have covered the virus and its spread from China to the entire world. He implied that the Communist Party of China has lied about the number of those who died there.
“Been listening to ‘respectable’ journalists quoting CCP official numbers for months without doubt or hesitation. Calling it the Wuhan Virus but only days later telling ppl who say it’s from China they’re racist. The official media have lost their legitimacy,” he said. The new virus was first reported in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread throughout the country, particularly ravaging the Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. In recent days, residents in Wuhan have begun to emerge from their homes and have claimed that evidence suggests the actual death toll tallies in the tens of thousands.
Some in Wuhan have pointed to shipments of mass quantities of urns to the province, which they contend could put the death count at more than 40,000. The U.S. Intelligence Community also said this week that it believes the Chinese government has hidden the full extent and number of casualties during the coronavirus outbreak. The findings were detailed in a classified White House report.
Lennon, in one tweet, dismissed the intelligence community revelation by writing, “Excuse me how the fudge is this breaking news? And why do we need U.S. ‘Intelligence’ to tell us what we all already know?”
The musician also waded into the controversy surrounding how politicians refer to the virus. President Trump began referring to the COVID-19 virus as the “Chinese virus” after a Chinese official asserted that the U.S. military planted the coronavirus in Wuhan. The president has since stopped using the term. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also referred to the contagion as the “Wuhan coronavirus.”
Some have pushed back on tying the coronavirus to its place of origin. Former national security adviser Susan Rice said it is “shameful” that officials have used the term and said it was “designed to stigmatize people of Asian descent.”
Lennon pointed out Wednesday that the Spanish Flu of the early 20th century likely didn’t even originate in Spain, despite the nomenclature. He also highlighted a perceived double standard among some figures.
“We live in a time that calling a virus that came from China, Chinese, is racist, (and arguably dangerous for Asians because: morons). Oh, and calling a virus that probably didn’t come from Spain, Spanish, well that makes total sense,” Lennon said.
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