Jimmy Kimmel covered a lot in his monologue on Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” but he spent particular time talking about something that annoys him and probably most of his viewers: people who use their influence to spread lies about vaccines and COVID-19.
The bit started when Kimmel talked about President Joe Biden’s visit to California Monday to campaign against the attempt to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Being president is not a fun job right now. Climate change, murder hornets and of course, the relentlessly maddening fact that Joe Biden has to ask people to take a lifesaving vaccine,” Kimmel said.
“It’s like if we were skydiving and he had to convince us to open our parachutes. It is ridiculous,” the host continued. “But this is an interesting statistic: Covid deaths have proven to be much higher in states that voted for Trump.”
Just a quick aside: This is, unfortunately, absolutely true. States led by Republicans have terrible rates of illness and death relative to states that aren’t, with Florida in particular accounting for 20% of all U.S. COVID deaths since the delta variant surge began in June.
“But it’s not just the right wingnuts who are smarter than science,” Kimmel continued. “Lots of the Lululemon crowd is opting out too. These ‘wellness’ influencers, some with big followings, are spreading dangerous misinformation.”
This, sadly, is also true, and Kimmel specifically called out an influencer named Evie Kevish, who frequently shares vaccine misinformation on her social media feeds, according to the Washington Post.
Kevish, Kimmel noted, “calls herself a ‘certified juice therapist’ and once wore a shirt that says ‘VACCINES ARE POISON.’”
“Where do you get certified for juice? ‘That’s right, I have a Masters degree from the University of Jamba?” Kimmel continued. “It’s so nuts. Imagine if you have… let’s say your testicles inflate to the size of a volleyball. It happens. Mostly to men. And now you need to see somebody about it. Who do you go to? A urologist? Or yogachick95, your ‘wellness’ consultant?”
“Here’s a good rule of thumb: Never take medical advice from anyone with abs,” he added. “Or from someone who wears natural deodorant. I’ve smelled how good that stuff works, and guess what? It doesn’t.”
You can watch the whole monologue from Monday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at the top of the page. The bit we singled out begins about four minutes and 45 seconds in.