Far-right website the Gateway Pundit led its readers to think that if you get an anal swab coronavirus test, you could be left walking like a penguin.
Such a claim is false, according to Chinese authorities.
While the claim on the surface sounds a bit absurd, it’s indicative of the fears right-wing media has over a newly released version of a coronavirus test, where instead of a swab up the nose, it is administered through the anus. It’s reportedly more accurate than a nasal sawb.
But because of their need to be preposterously masculine, they are stoking concerns over the prospects of a COVID-19 anal test coming to the United States with an intensity typically reserved for immigrant caravans.
“Coming Soon to America? China COVID Anal Swab Testing Makes You Walk Like a Penguin,” the Gateway Pundit headlined their article.
Blundering right-wing operative Jacob Wohl also expressed fear over the prospects of a COVID-19 anal test. “You’re going to be forced to take it,” Wohl wrote on Telegram.
Others, such as right-wing pundits Harlan Hill and former Breitbart editor Raheem Kassam, also joked about the prospects of getting a coronavirus anal test.
Kassam thought the original Washington Post report on the COVID-19 anal tests might be a prank:
Both Pastor Darrell Scott, a Trump-supporting preacher, and Hill weren’t too keen on taking the test via their backside.
“I didn’t sign up for this,” Hill said during a segment on Kassam’s the National Pulse web show.
According to Chinese authorities in Beijing’s government-run publication, which was first reported by Forbes, the video that claimed anal swabs made you waddle is “doctored and fake.”
