Arnold Schwarzenegger Blasts COVID Deniers: ‘Screw Your Freedom’

In an interview with CNN’s Alex Vindman and Bianna Golodryga, actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called anti-maskers “schmucks.”

Arnie sat down with the two to discuss his frustration at the propagation of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccine, and criticized people who haven’t been considerate of others throughout the pandemic. “A year and a half later, we are still in a mess and there are still people living in denial, there are still people that don’t believe in masks,” he said.

Schwarzenegger stressed that Americans need to get vaccinated if we’re to see an end to the pandemic, which has refused to go anywhere amid the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant. Of particular concern to Arnold is how selfish many have acted over the last year and a half, and he shot down the absurd suggestion that wearing a small cloth face mask is somehow a horrific violation of personal freedom.

“I think people should know there is a virus here, it kills people,” the 74-year-old former governor said. “And the only way we prevent it is we get vaccinated, we wear masks, we do social distancing, washing your hands all of the time, and not just to think about, ‘Well, my freedom is being kind of disturbed here.’ No, screw your freedom, because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities. You cannot just say, ‘I have the right to do X, Y, and Z,’ when you affect other people. That is when it gets serious.”