LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Matthew Perry, renowned for his role as Chandler Bing on the iconic sitcom 'Friends,' tragically passed away on October 28 at the age of 54. Initial reports suggested an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home, awaiting further investigation by the LAPD.
Kandiss Taylor faces backlash over unfounded claim
Amidst the grief and uncertainty surrounding Perry's untimely demise, Kandiss Taylor, a former Republican candidate for Georgia's governor and current GOP chair of Georgia's 1st congressional district, recklessly attributed his death to the COVID-19 vaccine. She made this unfounded claim even before an official cause of death had been established.
"Not a conspiracy when it is TRUTH. Correlation doesn’t lie. That’s what ALL research does to find significance. Stop being offended and get on your knees and pray for healing! Find Jesus. He paid for ALL sickness. Healing is in Him," she posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Taylor's unsubstantiated remarks stirred outrage on social media, with many condemning her baseless conspiracy theory.
One critic aptly pointed out that "correlation is not causation," drawing a distinction between related events and actual causation. "I stick a banana in my ear. I haven't been attacked by an elephant. These are correlated items. But the reason I haven't been attacked by an elephant is that I don't live in an area with wild elephants. That's causation," they responded on X.
"He died in a hot tub from a heart attack bro," another wrote.
"'Correlation doesn’t lie' Ice cream sales are correlated with drownings at beaches," someone else quipped.
Some also expressed their dismay at Taylor's political exploitation of Perry's death, labeling it a disgrace and urging her to stop spreading false information.
"Stop acting like a clown, Kandiss! He lost his life and you're making this political. What a disgrace you are!" a comment read.
"You need to pray for bearing false witness. You have NO idea what happened," another chimed in.
Matthew Perry's past struggles
It is important to note that while some anti-vaxxers have been quick to blame the COVID-19 vaccine for the deaths of vaccinated celebrities, such actions are particularly egregious in Perry's case. The late actor had a well-documented history of health problems stemming from his struggles with addiction.
Perry openly admitted to his substance abuse, which began at the age of 14 and involved addiction to drugs like Vicodin, OxyContin, and Xanax. He sought rehabilitation several times and underwent numerous surgeries, including procedures on his stomach due to gastrointestinal issues caused by opioid abuse.
“I would fake back injuries. I would fake migraine headaches. I had eight doctors going at the same time,” Perry told The New York Times last year. “I would wake up and have to get 55 Vicodin that day, and figure out how to do it. When you’re a drug addict, it’s all math. I go to this place, and I need to take three. And then I go to this place, and I’m going to take five because I’m going to be there longer."
He added, "It’s exhausting but you have to do it or you get very, very sick. I wasn’t doing it to feel high or to feel good. I certainly wasn’t a partier; I just wanted to sit on my couch, take five Vicodin and watch a movie. That was heaven for me. It no longer is… I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober."
Perry's health battles were extensive, with a near-fatal incident where his colon burst due to excessive opioid use, putting him in a coma for two weeks and requiring extensive medical intervention.
“The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live,” the actor wrote in his memoir. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”
According to Rolling Stone, all of Perry's aforementioned health scares happened before Perry had publicly shared that he had received the COVID-19 vaccine in May 2021
