flipping the bird

Right-wing pastor claims gay men and Big Bird are coming for your children

Mario Murillo. Screenshot

Mario Murillo, a Trump-loving, right-wing, homophobic pastor made headlines this week following a bizarre rant in which he claimed the “men’s gay chorus of San Francisco” and famed TV icon Big Bird were coming to seduce children into “demonic” behavior.

Seriously.

Murillo delivered the remarks in an interview with Flashpoint, a talk show program on the right-wing network The Victory Channel. During his remarks, Murillo lashed out at public figures encouraging vaccination against COVID-19, and slammed Big Bird by name.

Related: Turns Out Big Bird Is The Child Of Two Gay Dads

“This is the most demonic thing I’ve seen in a long time,” he ranted. “The indoctrination of children, giving an experimental thing to children … see, to me, this is the worst form of bullying and peer pressure that you can possibly use in society. These adults–I don’t know if they have a conscience or not. The question of children is going to be the defeating force of the left. It’s what’s going to get ya.”

“Going after the children — when the Men’s Gay Chorus in San Francisco said, ‘We’re gonna go after your children,’ there was a massive backlash, and there’s going to be to the Sesame Street. And there’s going to be a line drawn by parents and they’re going to switch this off and you’re going to watch this firestorm,” Murillo continued, adding “once you make it about the children, that’s when all of the left, right, Republican, Democrat labels go out the window.”

Murillo’s remarks were apparently triggered by Big Bird tweeting about his own vaccination against COVID.

“I got the COVID-19 vaccine today,” Big Bird wrote on November 6. “My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy. Ms. @EricaRHill even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!”

Murillo’s attack on Big Bird and COVID vaccinations come as part of a string of right-wing figures denouncing the push by the Biden Administration to vaccinate Americans to end the pandemic. Sen. Ted Cruz also denounced Big Bird’s vaccination as “government propaganda,” while Republican lawmakers across the country continue to fight vaccine mandates. Murillo, meanwhile, has a long history of promoting loony theories, including the claim that Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020 was a “conspiracy theory.”

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