‘Screw your freedom.’ Arnold Schwarzenegger calls out people refusing to wear masks
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger again lashed out against COVID-19 misinformation and people not following health guidance, referring to people not wearing masks as schmucks.
He made the comments Tuesday in an interview with CNN’s Bianna Golodryga and former National Security Council staffer Alexander Vindman, the latter of whom was promoting a new book.
Schwarzenegger said the United States is “still in a mess” in part because of people refusing to wear face masks and social distance.
“There are people out there who are experts that studied this year after year after year,” Schwarzenegger said. “Dr. (Anthony) Fauci has ... for his entire life, why would you not believe someone like that?”
Schwarzenegger has long been a proponent of supporting guidance offered by health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last summer, he said people who politicize face masks are “absolute morons,” McClatchy News reported.
He also pleaded for people to get vaccinated in January after he received his first dose.
His recent comments were made during a significant surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the U.S. fueled by the delta variant.
That increase has led to companies and states implementing vaccination protocols. In California, where Schwarzenegger was governor from 2003 to 2011, teachers are now required to get a COVID-19 vaccination or submit to weekly testing, the Sacramento Bee reported.
“I think people should know there is a virus here. It kills people,” the former “Terminator” star said in the interview this week. “And the only way we prevent it is we get vaccinated, we wear masks, we do social distancing, washing your hands all of the time, and not just to think about, ‘Well, my freedom is being kind of disturbed here.’ No, screw your freedom. Because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities.”
There have been 36.19 million cases of the coronavirus in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. Of those, 2.2 million have occurred in the last four weeks.
Cases of the virus have increased by 10 times since late June, The New York Times reported.
“We have to come together rather than fighting and always just saying, ‘According to my principles, this is a free country and I have the freedom to wear no mask.’ Yeah, you have the freedom to wear no mask, “ Schwarzenegger said. “But you know something? You’re a schmuck for not wearing a mask.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 9:57 AM with the headline "‘Screw your freedom.’ Arnold Schwarzenegger calls out people refusing to wear masks."