Axl Rose: “Rand Paul Needs to Step Off”
You would think that being the first senator confirmed to have COVID-19, Rand Paul would understand the importance of social distancing at this time. Then again, logic has never really been Rand Paul’s thing.
I’m saying the guy is an asshole.
Unsurprisingly, Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose isn’t a fan of Paul’s, either. Since Donald Trump was elected, the singer has used his Twitter feed almost exclusively to blast American right-wing politicians for being dipshits… a trend he kept up over the weekend.
What happened is this: Kentucky’s governor, Andy Beshear — who is a Democrat — had to take fairly severe actions to keep people for gathering en masse for yesterday’s Easter Sunday church services. As reported by NBC, Governor Beshear reasonably told the state’s residents that “even on a weekend like this we cannot have in-person gatherings of any type… We absolutely cannot bring people together in one building like that because that is how the coronavirus spreads, and that’s how people die.” Seems pretty fair. Surely, any kind of merciful Christian God would totally understand, right?
Still, to make sure people actually took these necessary precautions, Beshear announced that anyone who did attend a mass gathering would be forced to observe a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine, going so far as to warn that local law enforcement would be recording the license plate information of anyone found at a mass gathering to make sure that violators were served with a quarantine notice.
Despite being in recovery from COVID-19 himself, the announcement did not sit well with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who tweeted:
“Taking license plates at church? Quarantining someone for being Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step back here.”
To which Axl Rose replied:
“Step [back]? As usual Rand Paul needs to step off.”
It would have been great if Rose had elaborated a little here to communicate to his followers the real issue: the language Paul uses in his tweet is, frankly, manipulative. People are not being quarantined “for being Christian on Easter Sunday.” They’re being quarantined for endangering the lives of their fellow citizens. This is a fairly straightforward public health issue, not a matter of religious freedom (worth noting: Kentucky’s synagogues and mosques have also been forced to remain closed during the pandemic). Someone could just as easily tweet “Being exposed to a potentially lethal virus for not being Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step six feet back.” A love of your own God is fine, but putting others in harm’s way for the sake of that love is not.
Still, it’s awesome that Rose continues to use his considerable platform (he has 1.2 million followers on Twitter) to point out when Republicans are behaving clownishly… especially for a guy who, in his younger years, sometimes espoused toxic, conservative views himself. Here’s hoping more and more celebrities follow suit.
