Thread:
@BristolCity have a problem & it’s got nothing to do with getting beaten by Rotherham yesterday
Since City saying they’ll educate their star striker last week here , @nahkiwells has in fact doubled down on his dangerous anti-vaxxer misinformation https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-city-educate-staff-after-4761971

He posts anti-vaxxer memes on insta stories, generally, so Bristol City having a word with him clearly hasn’t made a difference. https://twitter.com/bristololi/status/1338067991553040385

The meme he posted is fake but like a lot of anti-vaxxer stuff, is a distortion of reality, to suit the dangerous narrative. https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/covid-vaccine-bells-palsy

The key part of this article, after it explains the TEMPORARY Bell’s Palsy reported by just four people who had the Pfizer vaccine, is here:

When you take a large number of random people - in this case 38,000 - & monitor their health for, say, a week, law of averages says some of them are going to experience health problems. That’s what happens to people, Nahki.

I hope with all my heart Nahki Wells scores 30 goals this season & gets Bristol City promoted. He’d be a hero in the city. I’d love him to bits.
But he’s got tens of thousands of followers on his social media, & clearly is either misguided, ignorant or wilfully dangerous.

The problem Bristol City have is the question raised about how far employers can go in controlling their employees’ personal social media output.
Is he representing Bristol City when he spouts this dangerous bullshit?
That’s a question for them.

When we first reported on this, Bristol City had an opportunity to make a strong statement about this issue - it was the day the vaccine had been approved, a key time in this fight against Covid.
Lockdowns only delay, a vaccine seems the only thing to beat this.

But the diplomatic answer City gave has clearly not worked. The ‘education’ all City staff on the vaccine hasn’t worked so far.
Anti-vaxxer conspiracy nonsense runs deep in people.
Me, as someone in media, will be viewed as part of the conspiracy. They’ve an answer for everything

Should Instagram shut this down? Should Bristol City be more firm?
I don’t know
I don’t want disharmony between City & Nahki. I want him to be happy & score a hat-trick next game. I want to cheer him, not sigh & get cross that he’s using his platform to spread dangerous nonsense

Football is an often cynical business, & the industry has a dubious record when it comes to dealing with players having ‘views’.
Compare Man Utd & Rashford’s campaign, with Arsenal & Ozil highlighting the genocide of the Uighurs for example.

This is a bit different again, but very pertinent given Ashton Gate is currently preparing to be where possibly hundreds of thousands of people will come to get the vaccine, something they rightly say they’re proud of
I don’t envy Bristol City having to deal with it tbf

Media are in a no-win situation with this too. Ignore it & it continues to spread widely on social media anyway, but now fuelled with the added conspiracy line ‘you won’t see this on the ‘lamestream media’, or ‘the things they won’t report..’

Report on it (& hopefully calmly show it’s nonsense or twisted) & media is accused of ‘giving oxygen’ to it by regular people who are just concerned by its spread.

It’s the job of sensible media to question & challenge scientists on things like safety of vaccines, of course - & then report that science clearly & fairly so people can understand it.

It’s not just current Bristol City stars that a covid/vaccine conspiracy theorists.
Basso is a cult hero former goalie who believes in ‘the plandemic’.
What an insult to those who have died / the frontline NHS staff like my wife who are exhausted.
Sigh. https://twitter.com/adriano_basso16/status/1338093001499955206

Why does this matter? Surely people listen to scientists on science, doctors on medicine before listening to footballers?
You’d think so eh....

But the issue with someone like Nahki Wells posting anti-vaxxer stuff on insta is that it a) makes other anti-vaxxers feel legitimised & b) could help sway people who are confused by all this & searching for answers.

As we’ve seen in countless other instances, esp in politics, a lie can travel the world before the truth has put its boots on.