Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) stirred controversy online with the sale of T-shirts that make fun of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox.
The T-shirts, which are being offered for $34 on her website, show three popular monkey emojis above text that says “See no monkeypox, hear no monkeypox, speak no monkeypox.” The three monkeys are showing covering their eyes, ears, and mouth.
The disease, which largely affected gay and bisexual men during a recent outbreak, has been labeled by Greene in the past as a “scam” comparable to COVID-19. The congresswoman also argued last year that the disease should be laughed at and mocked given that it was only an issue for “some people.”
“People just have to laugh at it, mock it, and reject it,” she said during an interview at the time while claiming that mpox was a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
In reality, mpox is not an STI and can be spread through direct contact with lesions or even clothing items from an infected person.
Although the U.S. government declared last month an end to the mpox emergency, which resulted in over 30,000 infections and 26 deaths, Greene’s shirt was produced nonetheless.
While the T-shirts have largely gone unnoticed outside of promiment LGBTQ media outlets, some users expressed disgust at Greene’s actions on Twitter.
“She is clueless, classless, and without a shred of compassion or dignity,” one person wrote.
It remains unclear whether the shirts will prove to be popular among conservatives. At the height of the mpox outbreak, conservatives spread an array of outlandish conspiracy theories such as the claim that mpox was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.
