Jim Carrey Apologizes After Posting Picture Of Autistic Boy Alongside Anti-Vaccine Rant
Jim Carrey apologized for something Thursday night that upset the mother of an autistic boy. Late Tuesday through Wednesday morning, the actor and comedian had indulged in an anti-vaccine rant and used pictures of several autistic children in one of his posts.
One of those children was the son of Karen Echols, who, upon discovering the photo, demanded that Carrey remove it due to not having her permission. Joining her request was the boy’s aunt, Elizabeth Welch.
Welch had taken to Instagram to express her disappointment with Jim Carrey for using pictures of autistic children.
“I’m very disgusted and sickened that a celebrity would use a photo like this that was used in the first place to spread awareness of Tuberous Sclerosis to mock him and my sister for vaccinations. Even if that was not his intended outcome, it is what happened. Please spread this, and let’s try to get this tweet removed.”
Welch added that Alex Echols had been diagnosed with autism before he’d ever been vaccinated.
The reason behind Carrey’s rant was similar to that of his ex Jenny McCarthy, who believed that vaccinations for many common childhood ailments can lead to autism. A recent California law has been stated as forcing children to be vaccinated anyway, ignoring the parents’ anti-vaccine beliefs.
Jim Carrey isn’t likely to apologize for his rant against the policy, but using those pictures of children did cross a line. He made things right by removing the offending tweet and posting the apology.
I’d like to apologize to the Echols family and others for posting a pic of their kids w/o permission.I didn’t mean to cause them distress.
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 3, 2015
Jim Carrey stated that he isn’t against vaccines themselves, as much as the chemicals he believes have been used in them, such as “mercury laden thimerosal.” He believes that much of it has been removed from current day vaccines, but not all of it.
I am not anti-vaccine. I am anti-thimerosal, anti-mercury. They have taken some of the mercury laden thimerosal out of vaccines. NOT ALL! — Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 1, 2015
This was the reason behind the Twitter rant using a picture of young Alex, which forced Jim Carrey to apologize to the boy’s mother and remove the picture. The caption alongside the tweet expressed his opinion rather clearly.
“A trillion dollars buys a lot of expert opinions. Will it buy you? TOXIN FREE VACCINES, A REASONABLE REQUEST!”
Scientists disagree, stating that current vaccines have never actually caused autism. The general consensus has been so popular that even Autism Speaks, a well-known advocacy group, has been pushing to get children vaccinated. Now California law has made it so protesters such as Jim Carrey have no say in whether or not to give children their preventive medicine.
Even though Jim Carrey apologized for his tweet featuring pictures of autistic children without permission, it is clear that he opposes what California just imposed on its population.
[Image via Charley Gallay / Getty Images]
