Carrie Underwood, a 38 year old Grammy Award winning country music artist and mother of two was "cancelled" by online social media users on Wednesday after they observed that she "liked" a tweet from Daily Wire's Matt Walsh, who spoke out about the "cruel and indefensible mask mandate for children" in Nashville, where both Underwood and Walsh reside.
The conservative writer and podcast host posted a portion of his recent speech in which he faced a school board in the state to denounce such mask mandates. In the video, Walsh argued that COVID and its delta variant poses "almost no risk to our kids at all" despite the virus infecting over 4 million children in the U.S.
The podcast host and writer reasoned that it's not too dangerous for children because only "0.008% of them have died." He added that the mask mandates for children were only put in place by the board because they were trying to "politically" protect themselves. He argued, "The child's mask is a symbolic security blanket for you - not them. It's a disgrace and you should all be ashamed."
Here is my speech to the Nashville School Board where I spoke out against the cruel and indefensible mask mandate for children pic.twitter.com/Eq5IFsKyja
"” Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 12, 2021
Walsh's speech drew ire from the left and those who "follow the science," but earned a "like" from Underwood, who then became the subject of hate from the cancel mob, Faithwire reported. Underwood did not speak out on the issue and kept mum on mask mandates for children, but her mere "like" earned her a lot of hatred from the cancel mob.
"Carrie Underwood being an anti-masker is just sad," a Twitter user @kristazerance wrote. "The only country singer I know I can trust is Dolly Parton."
The Dolly Parton comparisons came swiftly, as well. Parton is well known to have donated to COVID vaccine research. Page Six reported that one Twitter user observed, "Seeing people react to Carrie Underwood being an anti-vaxxer makes me glad legend Dolly Parton helped bankroll one and two-time Rock And Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks has been pushing for masks, vaccines and social distancing all along."
Even left-wing pastor John Pavlovitz took to Twitter to criticize the country singer, writing that "Carrie Underwood being a God-over-Science person is the least surprising thing I've heard today."
Underwood, however, has some supporters defending her as well. Conservative author and podcaster Allie Stuckey, who was censored recently for calling a transgender athlete using male pronouns, tweeted in response:
"Carrie Underwood liked a video about kids not being forced to wear masks - a position totally supported by data - and she's being called an anti-vaxxer. In case you thought your 'nuanced' takes would save you from the leftist cancel mob, they won't."
Walsh also tweeted a sarcastic post in defense of Underwood's Twitter like, saying
"Carrie Underwood liked my video and now the mob is coming for her. She should know better than to like something that they don't like. This is an unforgivable sin."
Carrie Underwood liked my video and now the mob is coming for her. She should know better than to like something that they don't like. This is an unforgivable sin. https://t.co/ksPEKrnCnT
"” Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 17, 2021
Underwood hails from Oklahoma, a predominantly politically conservative state. She now lives in Nashville with her husband, Canadian-American former professional ice hockey star Mike Fisher and her two sons. She is also a practicing Evangelical Christian.
On Thursday, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sent a letter to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, expressing his concern over the governor's executive order that allows parents and families to opt out of mask mandates for kids, the Tennesean reported.
Sec. Cardona says that the state's opt-out order may infringe on federal requirements that says it must provide a safe environment for face-to-face learning. Up to four Tennessee pastors urged other schools to refrain from implementing the governor's order and defy the governor's orders and implement mask mandates to properly protect students who have gone back to in-person learning.
