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Fans urged the New Zealand-born ballroom dancer to delete his controversial post. Photo: Instagram
Fans urged the New Zealand-born ballroom dancer to delete his controversial post. Photo: Instagram
New Zealand-born ballroom dancer Brendan Cole has been slammed for a social media post in which he doubted the efficacy of wearing masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The former "Strictly Come Dancing" pro has come under fire for his "totally irresponsible" Instagram post in which he attempted to argue there was no proof that masks stopped Covid-19.

"The first randomised trial of more than 6000 individuals to assess the effectiveness of surgical face masks against Sars-CoV-2 infection did not statistically significantly reduce the incident of infection," he posted.

"The so-called 'Danmask-19 Trial,' published November 18, 2020, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, included 3,030 individuals assigned to wear a surgical face mask and 2,994 unmasked controls."

The post was a "repost" from another account.

Cole's fans were quick to criticise him for sharing the message, urging him to delete the post. Many also let him know they'd be unfollowing him for spreading "misinformation" and "putting others at risk".

Medical professionals also weighed in in the comments.

"Think before you share c**p that fits what you want to believe otherwise you become directly responsible for people coming to harm," Dr Joshua Wolrich commented.

"Do the right thing and delete this information."

"That is not what we need at the moment. Follow the bl***y guidance and wear to protect others," a nurse from Scotland also said.

"I work in healthcare and have had patients refuse to wear masks because of this type of misinformation putting others at risk," another one of his followers said.

The UK-based Kiwi dancer was accused of spreading "fake news" and told to "stick to dancing".

This is not the first time the Kiwi pro dancer has shared his controversial views on the pandemic.

"For the first time in recent history we are being controlled in so many ways. Why can we not protest?" he previously wrote.

"Why can we not have an opinion and discuss these differences of opinion openly without being silenced or called names," he added.

Comments

"Sharing opinions" of stunning stupidity is one thing. "Diamonds are made of compressed oxygen" - readily identified as nonsense except by a handful of equally silly people who won't be hurt by believing it.
"Today's trains have brakes so much better than in the past, they can now stop in the same distance as a car on a road. Why are we still controlled by barriers when there is plenty of time to cross the lines before the train gets there?"
Dangerous stupid opinion.
We're all used to technology improving, phones that do more than an expsenive office computer could do 20 years ago, cars with safety features up the wazoo. So the story about trains seems likely. While spouting harmful nonsense chuck in a serving of conspiracy beliefs about governments or the shadowy powerful "them" using every opportunity to impose controls on the ordinary bloke and blokess. While there may be points in favour of people who promulgate such folly acting on their theories at level crossings it's most unfair on engine drivers.
When it comes to spreading covid-19, gullible types not only spread infection to sensible people, they impose even more work and risk on exhausted doctors and nurses.

What the??
What have trains got to do with idiotic dangerous false news on mask wearing?

After wearing a 3M N95 mask every work day for over 23 years, add me to the list; surgical masks are utterly useless against the virus.
Commonsense should tell anyone/everyone that.

So a guy gets "slammed" for expressing an opinion?
What's wrong with having an opinion....everything, according to lefties who slur those that don't follow the indoctrination

Having an opinion is fine however "celebrities" need to be aware that there are people who read their dangerous stupid views and believe their rubbish. Anyone doubting this only needs to look at what is happening in USA right now and that is all down to Trump