Samantha Bee took on the anti-vaxxer movement during a segment on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. The movement has led to increased outbreaks of measles (which was eliminated in the United States in 2000—simpler times) and other preventable diseases, endangering the health of the public. During the piece, Bee discussed how social media companies like Facebook have been reducing the rankings of anti-vaxxer pages and how Amazon Prime is removing anti-vaxxer documentaries.
Bee reiterates what has been widely proven to be scientifically true: vaccines do NOT cause autism. And furthermore, she says, “don’t treat autistic people like their existence is worse than a pandemic.” The anti-vaxxer movement is not only scientifically disproven and dangerous to everyone, but also sends a nasty message to people with autism. Neurodiversity should be treated with compassion and respect, not insulted with bogus pseudo-science.
But as the anti-vaxxer movement has aged, so have the children who were denied life-saving vaccines. These kids are now teenagers and looking to take their health into their own hands. One such teen is 18 year old Ethan Lindenberger, who made national news after posting a question about getting vaccinated without his mother’s consent in a Reddit group.
Lindenberger was invited to give testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where he said, “Although the debate around vaccines is not necessarily centered around information, and concerns for health and safety, this is why education is so important, and also why misinformation is so dangerous.”
The teen sat down with Samantha Bee where he discussed how supportive and informative the Reddit group was, which came as a shock to Bee who called the site “the USA Today of white supremacy”. Bee makes the case for teens rebelling against their parents and launches into a Riverdale spoof titled “Full Fronterdale”.
In the spoof, Bee plays a Betty Cooper-style River Vixen, who finds out about vaccines from Archie, Veronica, and Josie (sadly not the real Riverdale actors, but close enough). She tells Archie that her parents don’t approve, before coughing up blood into a handkerchief, but Archie convinces her that it’s better to die in a normal way, “like from a cult” than from a preventable disease. Bee then has a dramatic confrontation with her mother, who is clearly younger than she is.
Lindenberger crashes the end of the sketch, joking “haven’t I been through enough” before walking off. The sketch captures Riverdale‘s moody lighting, tortured teens, and goofy subplots perfectly, while also making a valid and necessary point about vaccines. Now let’s get out there and win that football game singing competition!
(image: screencap)
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