Mario Tama/Getty Images(NEW YORK) – Jim Carrey has apologized to the family of a young child with autism after posting pictures of the boy without their permission during an extended Twitter rant about California’s new vaccine legislation. He and ex Jenny McCarthy are among a very vocal community of celebrity parents who say that vaccinations could contain mercury or other poisons associated with autism. Many critics say Carrey’s claims about vaccines are rooted in bad science which links vaccinations to autism.
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Carrey also called California Gov. Jerry Brown a “corporate fascist” for signing the new bill into law.
One of the tweets included a photo of a teen with autism having a breakdown, implying that vaccine caused intellectual disorder. Among them was Alex Echols, whose family was not too happy to see their son’s image used in such a public realm without their permission. “You do not have permission to use his image”, so she wrote.
Reacting to his tweet, Karen Echols, the mother of the boy, wrote back to the actor telling him to remove the photo.
Posting a copy of Carrey’s tweet on Instagram, Welch explained that although Alex does have autism, he was diagnosed with it before receiving any vaccinations.
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Karen Echols said their family is “disgusted and sickened” over Jim Carrey‘s use of her son’s photo without permission in a post visible to the comedian’s 14.7 million followers, according to the Daily Mail. “I didn’t mean to cause them distress”, reported The Hollywood Reporter. She later told the star she appreciated the apology and requested that he raise awareness about Tuberous Sclerosis instead.
