‘Hate Speech’: The Toronto Star Slammed For Headline Wishing Death On The Unvaccinated
The Toronto Star, a left-leaning publication, has come under fire for publishing a headline many have interpreted as wishing death on the unvaccinated. Some have described it as “propagating hate.”
Thursday’s edition of the Toronto Star featured a headline that has drawn the scorn of Canadians on both sides of the political spectrum. The paper featured a headline that stated, “I have no empathy left for the willfully unvaccinated, let them die. I honestly don’t care if they die from Covid, not even a little bit. Unvaccinated patients do not deserve ICU beds.”
The headline was slammed by Antony Robart of Global News, stating the headline was tabloid-y and that “propagating hate is not helpful.” Joy McCarthy, a “holistic nutritionist” referred to the headline as “hate speech” and asked, “how on earth is this even allowed? Why?” The publisher of Rebel News called out the Star stating, “this violates the Star’s own definition of hate speech.” The comments for the article were full of people with similar sentiment.
Seriously @TorontoStar?! Leave tabloid headlines to the tabloids. Your words or not- propagating hate is not helpful. pic.twitter.com/5Cjv4B0RYe
— Antony Robart (@AntonyRobart) August 26, 2021
Vaccines have become a political issue in Canada and many other Western countries. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), there is a political divide over vaccinations in the United States.
“One of the main factors driving differences in COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country is partisanship. Our surveys consistently find that Democrats are much more likely to report having been vaccinated than Republicans, and Republicans are much more likely to say that they definitely do not want to get vaccinated.”
Other studies have pointed out supporters of former President Trump are less likely to be vaccinated. According to a recent study by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) / Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), the most likely group to refuse the Covid vaccine in the US are “Republicans who consume far-right television news.”
