AFL star Jaidyn Stephenson has come under fire after posting a video on social media revealing his true feelings about Covid-19.
AFL star Jaidyn Stephenson has come under fire for saying Covid-19 is being over-hyped by the media.
The North Melbourne player was answering a series of non-football related questions from followers on Instagram when he made the claim, after being asked for his thoughts on vaccinations and if he “trusts them”.
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“Pretty topical, some people might not like this answer but I think the media overplays it a lot,” Stephenson said. “If there’s no media, then I don’t know if Covid’s such a big thing.
“That’s just my opinion, I don’t want any replies.”
The clip is no longer visible on Stephenson’s Instagram page, but has been posted on Twitter and attracted a barrage of angry replies from social media users.
Sports broadcaster Corbin Middlemas called the footy star’s take “one of the dumbest things I’ve heard from a public figure”.
“The inability for people to vet low quality from high quality information is an absolute crisis,” Middlemas tweeted. “Not at all funny & a scary indication on where we’re at.”
Sports reporter Mark Gottlieb added: “Do not, I repeat, do not get your health advice from professional footballers.
“He is (entitled to his opinion). And I’m entitled to the opinion that he’s a fool who should probably listen to people who know what they’re talking about.”
Stephenson’s comments come as Sydney remains in lockdown, which has been extended for at least two weeks after 97 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday.
Victoria has also made face masks mandatory indoors, including at all workplaces and high schools, and outdoors if you cannot stay 1.5m away from people outside of your household.
The new restrictions come as the number of positive cases in Victoria rose to at least 11. At least six are linked to a Sydney removal crew who worked in Melbourne while infectious and another two linked to a family in the city of Hume who moved to Melbourne from Sydney last week.
Three AFL clubs — Sydney, GWS and the Western Bulldogs — will reportedly fly out of Melbourne today to escape Victoria’s new Covid outbreak. What other changes may need to take place because of the coronavirus situation in NSW and Victoria remains to be seen, but AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan is confident footy will still go ahead.
“We’ll deal with whatever changes come, and that’s what we’ve been doing for 18 months,” he said.
“There is change, and challenges continue to come. They’ve been borne by our supporters with the ticketing and the ability to go.”