Yahoo Movies Michael Porter Jr. pushes wild conspiracy theory claiming COVID-19 is ‘used for population control’
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. shared a wild conspiracy theory about the COVID-19 pandemic and claimed that he’s never been vaccinated on a Snapchat Q&A on Tuesday night, just days before the NBA season is scheduled to resume.
Porter, who is in his first season playing with the Nuggets after missing the entire 2018-19 season recovering from a back injury, claimed that the coronavirus is being used for worldwide population control and that it’s being overblown.
“Personally, I think that the coronavirus is being used obviously for a bigger agenda,” Porter said. “It’s being used for population control in just terms of being able to control the masses of people.
“Because of this virus, the whole world is being controlled. You’re required to wear masks, and who knows what’ll happen when this vaccine comes out. You might have to have the vaccine in order to travel. That’d be crazy.”
There are still plenty of unknowns surrounding the coronavirus — a deadly virus that has raged across the world over the past several months and forced the league into a bubble at Walt Disney World. There were more than 4.3 million confirmed cases and nearly 150,000 deaths attributed to it in the United States alone as of Tuesday night, according to The New York Times, and a vaccine still isn’t expected to be available for quite some time.
[ Coronavirus: How the sports world is responding to the pandemic ]
Claiming the coronavirus was created for worldwide “population control,” however, is a conspiracy theory without any footing whatsoever.
Porter claims he’s never been vaccinated
Porter continued on his rant, claiming that he hasn’t ever received a vaccination.
“I’ve never been vaccinated in my life. I’ve never had any shots or anything like that,” he said.
This is almost certainly not true.
Porter attended Missouri and played basketball for the Tigers during the 2017-18 season — though appeared in just three games due to a back injury. In order to attend Missouri, all students are required to “comply with the two-dose MMR Immunization Policy,” meaning that they either need to have received the vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella, or be able to prove that they are immune to those diseases.
It’s more than likely that Porter was vaccinated as a child like the majority of children in the United States and simply doesn’t realize it. If the 22-year-old actually didn’t ever get vaccinated, he’ll have some explaining to do to Missouri.
Nuggets coach: ‘Not going to put a muzzle on anybody’
When asked about Porter’s comments the following day, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said the team wouldn’t do anything to silence its players, but would try to educate them on the impact of their platforms.
Here is Malone’s full statement on MPJ’s comments about COVID last night. Malone said he learned about what MPJ said this morning on the bus ride to practice. pic.twitter.com/9MMEqSB8KA
— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) July 29, 2020
Porter Jr. was averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds off the bench for the Nuggets this season before play was suspended. Denver will enter the restart with a 43-22 record, the third-best in the Western Conference.
More from Yahoo Sports:
