It takes a special kind of person to stick your head so deep in the sand that you can’t even hear a whisper of what’s happening outside, and yet some truly popular names in India and abroad are skeptical about the coronavirus. In all fairness, there’s a massive amount of misinformation and conspiracy theories floating around – so here are a few famous folk who don’t or didn’t believe in the coronavirus.

1. Anmol Ambani

Anil Ambani’s son has been highly vocal in his denunciation of the pandemic, of the vaccine, and of lockdowns being imposed. A quick trawl through his Twitter timeline will show it, and his recent viral outburst at lockdowns being imposed to fight the virus are also proof of his belief system. He’s called the entire thing a ‘Scamdemic’.

2. Evangeline Lilly

The actor, known for her roles in the hit series Lost and the Ant-Man films, had referred to covid as a simple flu and had defied social distancing rules, despite having young kids and elderly people living with her. She even claimed ‘Some people value their lives over freedom, some people value freedom over their lives.’ After intense social media backlash, she issued an apology.

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3. Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury

Even though his profiles have been banned by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, self-proclaimed doctor Dr Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury still manages to spread claims about the vaccine and the coronavirus being a hoax. He calls both Covid and HIV ‘imaginary diseases’.

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4. Wiz Khalifa

Last year, the rapper had tweeted this – 

For those not familiar, many conspiracy theorists believe the pandemic to be a cover-up to force people to stay indoors while mobile companies install the network, which people see as being extremely dangerous.

5. M.I.A

Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasam, who sang the hit song Paper Planes, has said in the past that ‘If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death’. She believes the coronavirus is a ploy to mass-vaccinate the world’s population and implant them with a tracking chip.

6. John Cusack

The popular actor, known for films like High Fidelity, had tweeted that 5G will be ‘Very bad for people’s health’, and went on to call those who disagreed with him ‘dumb sheep’. Calling people who don’t agree with the 5G theory sheep is a common tactic among conspiracy theorists.

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7. Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam’s Health Minister said there was ‘No need to wear masks as there is no Coronavirus in Assam’. That happened right at the start of April, despite the Central Government ruling that masks must be worn to prevent against the virus.

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8. Madonna

In March last year, Madonna posted a now-deleted video where she said in a bathtub filled with petal and said ‘It’s the great equalizer and what’s terrible about it is what’s great about it. What’s terrible about it is that it’s made us all equal in many ways, and what’s wonderful about is, is that it’s made us all equal in many ways.’

She was intensely criticised for romanticising a tragedy, and deleted the video soon after.

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9. Elon Musk

The Tesla founder is known for shooting his mouth off, and unsurprisingly enough, he posted the tweet below in March last year. Stick to shooting cars into space, Elon.

At least some of them have now changed their tune.