The Project’s Waleed Aly has defended Guy Sebastian after the singer faced major backlash for withdrawing his support for the #VaxTheNation campaign.
WATCH: Guy Sebastian apologises for “promoting vaccines”
In case you missed it, Guy copped a wave of criticism after he deleted an Instagram post promoting his involvement in the #VaxTheNation advertising campaign to encourage the country to get the COVID jab.
Taking part in the effort were some of the biggest names in Australian music, including Paul Kelly, Jimmy Barnes and more.
After the campaign was wiped from his Instagram, Guy uploaded an apology video that claimed the initial post had been published without his “direct involvement”.
“Whilst I want things to get going again, it’s not my role to communicate in the way that post was communicating,” Guy said in the apology clip.
“I would never, ever tell people what to do when it comes to their personal health choices,” the Kids Smart Brand Ambassador continued.
“I’m very sensitive of it, not only on a public level, but even in my personal life with people who have circumstances that they have to consider when making these choices.”
He concluded: “It was not a post that communicated with love or compassion, which I feel is what’s needed when it comes to addressing things like vaccinations.”
While many have slammed Guy for reneging on the campaign – including fellow artist Ben Lee and 2GB radio host Ray Hadley – the ‘Angels Brought Me Here’ hitmaker has found support in Waleed Aly, who defended the star on Tuesday night’s episode of The Project.
Saying he “really, really feels for Guy” amid the drama, Waleed continued, “He seems to me a lovely guy who is being beset upon by people who are not that, and waded into an issue where he didn’t quite understand the polarisation it faces.”
Carrie Bickmore added, “The pile on… the whole thing gets so ugly.”
Fellow Australian Idol alum Paulini also threw her support behind Guy, commenting on a clip of The Project segment on Instagram saying, “I’m completely behind what you said @guysebastian 🙌❤️.”
However, The Project guest host Dr Vyom Sharma wasn’t so forgiving, arguing that Guy’s stance showed a “lack of understanding”.
“He talked about the fact that he doesn’t want to tell people what they want to do if they have some medical conditions that may prohibit them from getting the vaccine,” Sharma began.
“I can see his good intentions here, but unfortunately this shows a lack of understanding. If anything, if you’ve got lots of medical conditions, that should encourage you more than anyone to go get vaccinated.
“You are exactly the person who is at risk from COVID-19, exactly the person we want to vaccinate first.
“I think the issue is, the number of people who actually can’t have these specific Covid vaccines because of underlying conditions, they are a very, very small group.
“We are talking about rare conditions that you barely ever see. It’s not the case that there are thousands of people out there who can’t get vaccinated – it’s just a few,” he said.
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