Woody Harrelson slams COVID protocols on sets: 'As an anarchist, I don't do well with mandates' (original) (raw)
"I don't feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination. That's not a free country."
Published on February 28, 2023 02:12PM EST
Woody Harrelson, who has previously spread false information about COVID-19, railed against vaccine protocols on Hollywood sets.
In a recent conversation with the New York Times Magazine, Harrelson lamented the future of indie movies given the "rather absurd" COVID protocols put in place, declaring that the country should "be done with this nonsense."
What's absurd about the protocols, the interviewer asked? "The fact that they're still going on!" Harrelson said. "I don't think that anybody should have the right to demand that you're forced to do the testing, forced to wear the mask, and forced to get vaccinated three years on. I'm just like, Let's be done with this nonsense."
"It's not fair to the crews. I don't have to wear the mask. Why should they? Why should they have to be vaccinated? How's that not up to the individual? I shouldn't be talking about this [expletive]," he said. "It makes me angry for the crew. The anarchist part of me, I don't feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination. That's not a free country."
Woody Harrelson. Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Harrelson added, "Really I'm talking about the crew. Because I can get out of wearing a mask. I can test less. I'm not in the same position they're in, but it's wrong. It's three years. Stop." As an "anarchist, I don't do well with mandates," he said.
The True Detective actor recently came under fire for what has been construed as an anti-vaccination monologue during his stint on Saturday Night Live over the weekend. Harrelson, who was initiated into the five-timers club, told a story about the "craziest script" he had ever read.
"So the movie goes like this," he said. "The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes. And people can only come out if they take the cartel's drugs and keep taking them over and over. I threw the script away."
Some viewers condemned the bit on social media.
A rep for Harrelson didn't immediately respond to EW's request for clarification about the monologue.
Harrelson previously made headlines last year when he stated that face masks don't help prevent the spread of COVID-19 (significant evidence states that they do). He also said that he didn't "believe in the germ theory" and that his immune system being "internally clean" is how he has dodged COVID.
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