Schwarzenegger to anti-maskers: ‘Screw your freedom’

Arnold Schwarzenegger has a message for Americans who argue that face masks encroach on their rights: “Screw your freedom.”

“Because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities,” the Republican former California governor said in a YouTube video released Wednesday. The action movie-star-turned-politician’s remarks were part of a discussion with CNN’s Bianna Golodryga and Alexander Vindman to promote Vindman’s new book, “Here, Right Matters.”

“We cannot just say, ‘I have the right to do X, Y and Z.’ When you affect other people, that is when it gets serious,” Schwarzenegger, 74, said.

The ex-bodybuilder likened opposition to face masks to bucking traffic laws.

“You cannot say, ‘No one is going to tell me that I’m going to stop here, that I have to stop at this traffic light here. I’m going to go right through it.’ Then you kill someone else, and then it is your doing,” he said. 

“This is the same thing with the virus,” the “Terminator” star explained. “You cannot go not put the mask on because when you breathe, you can infect someone else. And you can infect someone that then gets sick and may die.”

Schwarzenegger has been a vocal proponent of social distancing measures and of attempting to wipe out COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. In January, he shared a video of himself receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

In this week’s video, he urged the country to “work together,” saying it’s “the only way we can lick this virus.”

“Yeah, you have the freedom to wear no mask. But you know something, you’re a schmuck for not wearing a mask because you’re supposed to protect the fellow members around you,” Schwarzenegger said.

“I don’t want to villainize anyone here,” he continued, “but I just wanted to tell everyone, let’s work together and let’s stop fighting because there is a virus, and it’s better to get vaccinated [and] to wear a mask.”