‘Today Show’ host Allison Langdon brutally shut down Liberal MP Craig Kelly on Wednesday morning over his “unfounded and inaccurate comments” about COVID-19.
Kelly has sparked outrage over the past few months for his misleading claims that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin (IVM) can cure a coronavirus infection and that compulsory face masks in schools would be a “form of child abuse”.
Just moments after he clashed with Labor’s Tanya Plibersek at Canberra’s press gallery, Kelly appeared on the Channel 9 breakfast show, where Langdon told him, “You need to be quiet”.
“I spent time online last night and have managed to debunk every one of your theories. They’re not peer-reviewed. I don’t even want to get into this because you’re the only person who’s saying this,” Langdon said.
“We’ve got to listen to our doctors and our scientists. Don’t you need to pull your head in?”
Kelly challenged the presenter, saying she was “incorrect”.
“I completely and utterly reject the idea that I’m out there putting any theories forward. I’m not putting any theories forward at all. Yes, some of the studies that I’ve posted are still undergoing peer review, but many of them have actually been through the peer-review process,” he said.
“I’m sorry, that is just not true, Craig,” responded Langdon.
When the politician refused to accept her point, the TV host took a firmer stance.
“You need to listen for a moment... I actually didn’t want to get you on here to determine whether or not what you’re saying is true or not,” she said.
“Craig, we have seen deaths from COVID, we’ve seen sickness, we’ve seen mass job losses and hundreds of billions of dollars spent in government stimulus. All our hopes are riding on a vaccine. You need to be quiet.”
Watch the clip below:
Earlier Wednesday, cameras captured Kelly and Tanya Plibersek clashing in the halls of parliament, where Plibersek told him his COVID-19 claims were dangerous.
“My mum lives in your electorate, and I don’t want her exposed to people who are not vaccinated because of your crazy conspiracy theories,” Plibersek said.
“The prime minister is 100 per cent right,” responded Kelly, to which Plibersek asked, “So Scott Morrison agrees with you?”
“My prime minister will speak for himself,” he replied.
A few hours later, Kelly issued a statement in which he confirmed Morrison had called him into his office following the morning’s events.
“The prime minister reinforced the importance of public confidence in the government’s vaccine strategy,” Kelly said.
“I agreed to support the government’s vaccine rollout, which has been endorsed by the medical experts. I have always sought to support the success of our nation’s public health response during the pandemic.
“I believe the spread of misinformation can damage the success of our public health response during the pandemic.”
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