Cornyn says China ‘is to blame’ for coronavirus because ‘people eat bats and snakes’
Texas Sen. John Cornyn is under fire for comments he made about coronavirus, saying China “is to blame” for the spread of the disease.
“China is to blame because the culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that, these viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people,” he told a group of reporters. “And that’s why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses.”
The first outbreak of the coronavirus was in Wuhan, China.
Cornyn’s staff noted that the senator was referring to exotic animal markets. When asked for comment, staff referred to comments the senator made during a phone call with Texas reporters.
“It’s no coincidence that China has been the source of most of these contagions breaking out — SARS, MERS, swine flu — because of some of the cultural practices there,” he said. “These open meat markets that serve everything from bats to tapirs to snake to dog meat.
“And some of these viruses that have previously been only in animals have then jumped to human beings and creating this particular outbreak. And that’s a very serious problem that we need to address in addition to the supply chain, or maybe that supply chain is part of that.”
Some fired back on social media, saying the senator’s comments were racist.
The National Council of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders tweeted to Cornyn: “There are over 1M Asian Americans in your state. These are wildly irresponsible comments when anti asian hate crimes are on the rise.”
Democrats were quick to condemn Cornyn’s comments.
“John Cornyn’s comments are disgusting, dangerous, and racist,” said Abhi Rahman, communications director for the Texas Democratic Party. “Asian Americans have already been the victims of hate crimes because of Trump and the Republican Party’s racism.
“Instead of dog-whistling, Cornyn should do his job to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and protect families from the impending financial meltdown.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 7:55 PM.
