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Jim Carrey used a stolen photo of an autistic boy in his anti-vaxx rant. The boy's parents are"not happy".

Jim Carrey used a photo of an autistic boy in his anti-vaxx rant. That boy’s mother is not happy.

In case you missed it, 90s megastar Jim Carrey tweeted an infuriating, anti-vaccination rant earlier this week.

Carrey, 53, tweeted on Wednesday: “A trillion dollars buys a lot of expert opinions. Will it buy you? TOXIN FREE VACCINES, A REASONABLE REQUEST!”

Along with that tweet, Carrey posted a photograph of a clearly distressed little boy with autism. (He has also posted lots of other anti-vaxx rubbish, like the below tweet:)

As Salon reports, the implication of Carrey’s use of the boy’s photo was clear: he was suggesting autism is the result of vaccination.

(Just to be clear, studies have disproved that ‘link’ time and time again.)

But the mother of the boy in Carrey’s picture has revealed the photo was used without the family’s permission — and that her son, 14-year-old Alex Echols, had autism before receiving any vaccinations.

Karen Echols wrote on her family’s blog that Carrey “and is misrepresenting my son’s image by attaching it to his anti-vax rant.”

The post notes: “Alex safely received his vaccinations — his genetic disorder was present at birth.”

It continues:

 

We feel Mr Carrey was irresponsible in using our son’s image to further his agenda, and feel he should issue an apology for using our son’s image without permission. If Mr. Carrey’s image was used this way, legal action would almost certainly be taken.

We’re not happy that Mr. Carrey used our son’s picture, but we are happy to use this attention to spread the word about our son’s actual struggles.

Salon reports Carrey has also tweeted two other messages with what appear to be stock photographs of crying little boys, accompanied by ‘warnings’ about vaccinations.

Just to clarify: the US Center for Disease Control reports that: “Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines” — so Carrey probably needs to check his facts.

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Related: There is no link between autism and vaccination. None.

Previously, Mamamia wrote:

Jim Carrey may have caught his anti-vax views from his ex-girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, but his latest rant on the subject seems to be all his own.

The rubbery-faced actor, 53, took to Twitter to rail against what he says are the toxins in vaccines after a new bill in California made vaccinating children mandatory.

Jim “stop the vaccines” Carrey.

“California Gov says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum in manditory [sic] vaccines. This corporate fascist must be stopped,” he wrote.

The bill was passed in the state after a measles outbreak.

The Twittersphere was quick to respond to Carrey, with many mocking what they took to be his anti-vax stance.

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Carrey clarified in another tweet that he is not anti-vaccination, but rather anti-thimerosal, which contains mercury.

“I am not anti-vaccine. I am anti-thimerosal, anti-mercury. They have taken some of the mercury laden thimerosal out of vaccines. NOT ALL!” he wrote.

Jim Carrey with his daughter Jane.

Carrey cited a documentary called Trace Amounts as proof of his claims.

“@JimCarrey You mean like how he says don’t give our kids Thimerosal! But it hasn’t been used for kids since 2001 outside flu vax,” tweeted Philip DeFranco in response.

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Carrey then posted a series of pictures of distressed kids. It’s not clear if they’re supposed to be children who suffer from autism, but it seems like that’s Carrey’s implication.

We liked him better when he was pretending his butt talked, instead of talking out of his arse.

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Jim Carrey’s not alone in Hollywood with his anti-vax views. Here are some other tinseltown anti-vaxxers.

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