“Deadshit”: Ziggy Alberts Slammed By Artists And Fans For Bizarre Face Mask Rant
"Dear people who think having to wear a mask is robbing you of your “basic rights”. You have clearly never experienced an actual infringement of your basic rights."
Ziggy Alberts has been heavily criticised by artists and fans alike after proclaiming that mandatory face masks mean our “country is no longer free”.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced yesterday that face masks would be mandatory in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire from midnight on Wednesday due to the surge in coronavirus cases in those areas — not wearing a mask would incur a $200 fine. Andrews called the move “commonsense”, saying it was about “embedding behaviour” that would bring COVID-19 back under control.
“We’re going to be wearing masks in Victoria and potentially in other parts of the country for a very long time,” he said at a press conference yesterday. “There’s no vaccine to this wildly infectious virus and it’s a simple thing, but it’s about changing habits, it’s about becoming a simple part of your routine.”
The announcement spurred Alberts — who has previously come under fire for supposedly spouting anti-Vax and anti-5G views in his latest song, ‘Don’t Get Caught Up’, and who evidently hasn’t come across the words ‘logic’ or ‘reason’ — to release a statement via his Instagram story, in which he wrote that the new rule “strips Australians of their basic rights in what is supposed to be a free society”.
“There is no way I’m going to support, endorse, or encourage mandatory face masks or lockdowns in a free country,” he wrote. “Because our country is no longer free when you can’t leave your house or face fines for not wearing something over your mouth when you try to leave.”
I don’t believe in cancel culture, except for this guy. pic.twitter.com/SrSOV7Nypi
— Melody Forghani (@forghandi) July 19, 2020
The bizarre rant drew instant criticism online, with artists like Alex Lahey, Gordi (who happens to be a doctor), Babaganouj, and Nina Las Vegas publicly calling him out.
There is no space for the spread of misguided and misinformed rhetoric suggesting that wearing a mask is a breach of your freedoms as a human being. That messaging is dangerous, has no basis in science or medicine and will not solve anything
— Alex Lahey (@AlexLahey) July 19, 2020
Dear people who think having to wear a mask is robbing you of your “basic rights”.
You have clearly never experienced an actual infringement of your basic rights.
Just wear a mask. Don’t worry, you can still whisper your free-speech from beneath it.
— Gordi (@GordiMusic) July 19, 2020
(not that I ever did lol) https://t.co/pXmQSMtpeY pic.twitter.com/s2gWsHgyLs
— Nina Las Vegas (@ninalasvegas) July 19, 2020
New Ziggy Alperts press shots pic.twitter.com/dagOBRbrpY
— Babaganouj (@babaganoujsuck) July 19, 2020
The reaction from the wider public was similarly brutal, with many pointing out the fairly problematic comparison Alberts seemed to make between the Nazi regime and a public health order mandating the use of face masks.
If you’re going to listen to any musician tonight, please let it be the one who is also a doctor. https://t.co/qcTXAVFNsu
— Bridget Hustwaite (@BHustwaite) July 19, 2020
me when i equate public safety to genocide https://t.co/iL0bVVYKUi
— (◞‸◟) (@kevinruddvevo) July 19, 2020
just got the research back from the lab and I’m happy to confirm a strong positive correlation between people who refuse to wear masks and people who look like gigantic fkn clowns pic.twitter.com/2oXvVxGbFp
— Max Quinn (@Maxquinn) July 19, 2020
LOL. Can we talk about Ziggy Alberts saying “It’s really that simple” before making the most outlandish comparison of wearing masks to communist dictatorship and Nazi rule.
So simple.
— Lucy Smith (@lcysmth) July 19, 2020
Ziggy Alberts is a dead shit. Also the transition from environmental activism to love song in Laps Around The Sun makes absolutely no sense, it is two songs mashed together and it is shit. Wanted to get that off my chest for awhile now.
— Dave McCarthy (@iamdavemccarthy) July 19, 2020
Maybe someone should let Alberts know that simple acts of public safety are the mark of a free and healthy society, not the opposite.