Celebrities rally for World Health Organization (and China?)

Analysis by FPI / April 21, 2020

The record clearly shows that the World Health Organization (WHO) has failed the world on the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus.

Chinese health officials knew the virus was spreading between humans by mid-January. But, on Jan. 14, the WHO stated that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus.”

WHO's decision not to declare a public health emergency delayed the mobilization of public-health resources around the world, analysts have said.

The WHO has lent its imprimatur to Chinese disinformation and blessed China’s slow response to its domestic outbreak, which likely caused a 20-fold increase in cases, according to a University of Southampton study.

Despite widespread claims that the WHO is complicit in China's coronavirus cover-up, a number of music legends and political figures took part in a two-hour televised concert on Apirl 18 to raise money for the WHO.

The "One World: Together at Home" event, led by the WHO and non-profit group Global Citizen was broadcast across multiple television channels in the U.S. and overseas.

The lineup of stars included Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Idris Elba, Lizzo and Lady Gaga, who gushed that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom was a "superstar."

Contributions, all filmed in their homes, also came from Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Stevie Wonder, British soccer star David Beckham, former U.S. first ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, and Bill Gates.

There was widespread backlash against the event:

"Yes, we need useless celebrities preaching to us how this isn't China's fault and how we should just all live as one nation," one scathing Amazon review of the concert read.

"That one world together at home commie propaganda sponsored by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] WHO and this global citizen bull c**p is on at least 20 different stations," tweeted Charles Langworthy, a Republican running for Congress in Michigan. "You can take your commie propaganda and shove it. THIS IS AMERICA! We are not global citizens we are AMERICAN CITIZENS!!"

"If I could give No stars I would," one Amazon reviewer wrote. "WHO lied! People died!! Let's not forgot this!!! While we're home given up our freedom and most of us without jobs these CELEBRITIES ask us to help raise money for the WHO?! Forget it!"

The event's corporate sponsors and other donors have already given $150 million, earmarked for the WHO's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, organizers said.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump pulled all U.S. funding for the WHO, accounting for about half of the group's budget, pending an investigation into the group's handling of the pandemic, and particularly its relationship with China.

Tedros, a former official in Ethiopia's Marxist party with a PhD in community health, also delivered a video address during the concert, which drew particular backlash.

"Disgrace, you have no ground to stand on after this episode. Failed to signal what was coming out of [China] failed to confirm a pandemic until it was too late, you were behind the curve permanently," one person tweeted.

Free Press International