Former TV star Pete Evans is causing more controversy by encouraging people to "urgently" sign a potentially dangerous anti-vaccination petition.
The celebrity chef and Instagram influencer has recently made headlines for sharing sinister conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and selling a fake potential cure for the disease.
Evans, who starred in Channel 7's My Kitchen Rules but was released from his contract following his online outbursts, shared the anti-vaxxer petition on his Instagram account.
"Urgent: I have been sent so many messages about this subject in the last few days and heard such heartbreaking stories," he captioned the post.
"There are apparently studies linking the flu injection to an increased possibility of other illnesses... This petition is really important, and is something federal members and cabinet have to regard."
The petition demands the Australian government to stop "medicating" people with compulsory flu jabs for visitors, staff, and contractors before they enter nursing homes.
Some of the world's most fatal COVID-19 clusters have occurred in aged care facilities.
Despite sharing the anti-vaxxer petition, Evans claims he is not an anti-vaxxer "as many people have assumed" in the post.
He finished the post saying: "I send love to you all, regardless of what your beliefs are #healthfreedom".
Vaccinations are a crucial tool used to reduce the spread of preventable diseases and the anti-vaxxer movement - which generally ignores science and the advice of medical experts - has been identified as one of the 10 greatest threats to global health.
Australian Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen star Isabel Lucas commented on Evans' post saying "signed".
Other commenters praised Evans for supporting the petition, but not everyone was happy.
"Stick to roasting chickens as that's all your qualified to do," one commenter said.
