Far-left, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann blasted Americans unvaccinated against COVID-19 as "afraid," referring to them as "snowflakes" and "morons" in a vulgar, viral video that has accumulated more than two million views.
"Time to stop coddling the people who won’t get the shot," Olbermann said as he received the COVID booster.
"Our first step, you and I, is symbols, the language we use. We call these people ‘vaccine hesitant,’ ‘vaccine skeptics,’ ‘anti-vax,’ we say they’re protesting mandates and passports, they’re making a personal choice. They’re waiting for more information, they’re making a medical decision. Bulls—t! They’re afraid," Olbermann said.
"They’re afraid to get vaccinated. Stop feeding their egos about what they’re doing. Stop legitimizing it," he continued as he started to yell and appear angry. "Vaccine hesitant? They’re afraid! Vaccine skeptics? They’re afraid! Anti-vax? They’re afraid! They’re protesting mandates and passports? They’re afraid! They’re making a personal choice? They’re afraid! They’re waiting for more information? Afraid!"
Olbermann, who was accused of making a "death threat" to Reason's Robby Soave earlier this year after disagreeing with him over whether or not vaccinated people need to continue wearing masks, left a high-paid ESPN gig in 2020 so that he could spout political opinions online.
The famously bombastic pundit has posted the video several times amid a feud with podcaster Joe Rogan, who has not been vaccinated.
"They’re making a medical decision to be afraid. The snowflakes are afraid. Afraid of the vaccine, afraid of being proved wrong, afraid of doing what anybody else in the world tells them to do, afraid of needles," he said. "So, no more pleasant euphemisms about what’s going on here. Apart from the people who have legitimate medical complications about vaccines, we have to stop coddling the morons who will not get the shot. We start by calling them what they are. They are all snowflakes."
Olbermann was once among the most outspoken critics of former President Donald Trump, even moving out of his luxury New York City apartment building because it was owned by him. He was widely criticized when his anti-Trump book featured a cover image of himself draped in the American flag, which is visibly touching the ground – a violation of U.S. flag code.
Olbermann was a popular anchor for ESPN's "SportsCenter" in the 1990s and later a Fox Sports baseball analyst before hosting the left-wing opinion show "Countdown" on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011.
Since then, he's bounced between sports and politics work. He re-joined ESPN in 2018 but decided to exit before the 2020 election so he could speak out against Trump.
