Greg Gutfeld: Vaccine virtue signaling and peer pressure -- this is CNN

In between calling people racist and finding a therapist for Chris Cuomo, this happened on CNN yesterday:

BRIAN STELTER, "RELIABLE SOURCES" HOST, APRIL 11: It's important to see all these TV anchors, personalities showing themselves getting the shot. We've seen a lot of vaccine selfies from lots of folks at lots of different networks. It's been really inspiring to see. You know, the "Today" Show even brought the co-hosts outside for a live group vaccination this week, and Rachel Maddow on Friday on MSNBC talked about how she was really fearful of the needle, really worried about it, and yet it was important to get the shot. And she did, and there she is talking about it on air.

So I say all of that to make the following point. Where are Tucker and Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, where's Ainsley Earhardt, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade? Where are the biggest stars on Fox getting vaccinated? I get it's a personal choice. I get that's between, you know, the hosts and their health care provider. But everybody else is doing it all across television. All these anchors are rolling up their sleeves. Why do you think we haven't seen the biggest stars on Fox News get vaccinated or show us their vaccine selfies?

So now virtue signaling includes telling people to virtue signal.

CNN'S STELTER MOCKED FOR COMPLAINING FOX NEWS JOURNALISTS HAVEN'T SHARED ENOUGH 'VACCINE SELFIES'

OK, Brian, I'll bite. Why haven't we made a vanity display of our vax status? Because it's none of your [expletive] business.

If Brian Stelter believes personal medical info should be publicized, he can start with his cholesterol. His HDL numbers are lower than his ratings. The World Obesity Federation found risk of death from COVID-19 is ten times higher in countries where the population is overweight, and he's accusing Fox of not setting a healthy example? That's as rich as the frosting on his morning strudel. If Stelter wants to do a fitness "Battle of the Network Stars," count me in, unless it's a pie eating contest.

Last week I called CNN The Shame Network, because all it does is look down at Americans, but it's actually worse than that. It's now officially pro-peer pressure. Let's replay Brian's key argument, shall we?

STELTER: Where are the biggest stars on Fox getting vaccinated? I get it's a personal choice ... but everybody else is doing it.

STELTER GUSHES ABOUT 'EXTRAORDINARY' 'BREATHTAKING' HUNTER BIDEN MEMOIR

That's a great point, Brian. So does that mean you will start showing your news sources, since other reporters are doing it? You know what else other people are doing? Thirty minutes of cardio.

Actually, saying you should do something because other people are doing it isn't what I would call wisdom. That's what your worst friend from grade school says. It's how Bob Lawson got me to eat slugs (that, and they were delicious).

As it happens, I got my shot, and there's a reason you didn't see it: Not everything has to be made for TV. You know what happens when you think like that? This:

CHRIS CUOMO'S EMERGENCE FROM HIS BASEMENT COMPARED TO 'BRIAN WILLIAMS IRAQ MOMENT'

A completely manufactured moment, all to get it on TV and signal his virtue as if he was down there the whole time and not across the the street picking fights with locals. So maybe worry less about showing off and more about being real.

The fact is, if comorbidity could talk, its name would be Brian Stelter. According to The Washington Post, one study attributed 30% of COVID hospitalizations to obesity. So rather than demanding we parade our virtuousness, Stelter should be showing us what he's doing to get better. Instead, he's tearing a rotator cuff patting himself on the back. If this guy did one sit-up for every time he shamed other people, he'd have an eight-pack in two days.

But you see, it's not about improving health. It's about showing off while shaming you. Reducing body fat is the number one lifestyle change that improves your chances against COVID, and it requires self-control, which is exactly why it's less popular than the apple slices in your Happy Meal. CNN would rather elevate their heart rates by making people hate each other. Instead of a vaccine passport, maybe they prefer a scarlet letter.

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My humble advice: If you have heightened risks for COVID, address them before judging others. Stelter is behaving like the guy who smokes cigarettes and then criticizes you for eating red meat.

The truth is, if you get a vaccine because someone on TV did, you're an idiot. Take responsibility for yourself and make up your own mind. You can still do that in America, I think.

This article is adapted from Greg Gutfeld's opening monologue on the April 12, 2021 edition of "Gutfeld!"