Twitter has erupted after it was announced that 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg would a special guest alongside a panel of medical experts to discuss the coronavirus pandemic in an upcoming town hall.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, 52, will host the show - titled 'Coronavirus - Facts and Fears' - alongside CNN broadcaster Sanjay Gupta, 50, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, 71, and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Richard Besser, 60.
However, after the announcement was made on CNN's official Twitter account, social media users were majorly divided over the decision to feature the teenager on a panel of public health experts.
Famed American conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro slammed the news network, tweeting to his 2.6 million followers: "Is there anyone at CNN with any level of self-awareness? Featuring Greta Thunberg on a covid-19 expert panel is just beyond words. I actually cannot believe they are this insane/stupid.
"From now on, CNN just needs to feature her on every expert panel. Just to f*** with everybody. 'TONIGHT ON CNN: EXPERT PANEL ON PARTICLE PHYSICS, FEATURING CHILD WHO YELLS AT ADULTS GRETA THUNBERG!'"
Political scientist and author Ian Bremmer joked to his half a million Twitter followers: "Greta Thunberg is appearing on a CNN Townhall on Climate Ch... No, it’s on Coronavirus. Okay, now I’m confused."
Chuck Callesto tweeted out his criticism over CNN's decision, writing to his 250,000+ followers: "CNN's Expert Coronavirus Panel will Include GRETA THUNBERG.. IS CNN TABLOID NEWS AT THIS POINT?"
Radio and podcast host Neal Boortz also slammed CNN, tweeting to his 215K followers: "Sorry, CNN. I just don’t get it. Your ratings continue to slide, and your response is to put Greta Thunberg on an expert Coronavirus panel? [You're] playing a joke on us, right? Did you lose a bet?"
However, there were those who took to the social media platform to voice their support for Thunberg's inclusion on the panel.
Twitter-user Ann-Marie Poli wrote: "Greta Thunberg is not appearing on CNN as an expert on coronovirus. She is someone who both had covid and is dedicating her life to awareness of another global threat. But I know I am wasting my time. People filled with that much hate have no room for anything else. [sic]"
The wife of one of the Krassenstein Brothers - the progressive political activists who were permanently banned from Twitter last year - also shared her support for the teenager with the 45K followers.
Ms. Krassenstein tweeted: "Why do people just love attacking Greta Thunberg so much? Who cares if she's on CNN's CoronaVirus town hall? No one is claiming she's an expert on the matter so stop putting words in people's mouths. 'Special guest' doesn't mean 'expert,' no matter how you want to spin it!"
Last month, UNICEF announced that Thunberg had launched a children-first campaign to help protect young lives against COVID-19, pledging a grant of €92,000 ($100,000), awarded to her by Danish NGO Human Act, toward the effort.
Speaking about the campaign, the 17-year-old said:
"Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child-rights crisis. It will affect all children, now and in the long-term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most. I’m asking everyone to step up and join me in support of UNICEF’s vital work to save children’s lives, to protect health and continue education."
Back in March, Thunberg also took to social media to announce that she had been self-isolating after fearing she had become infected with the novel coronavirus. She wrote:
"The last two weeks I’ve stayed inside. When I returned from my trip around Central Europe I isolated myself (in a borrowed apartment away from my mother and sister) since the number of cases of COVID-19 (in Germany for instance) were similar to Italy in the beginning. Around ten days ago I started feeling some symptoms, exactly the same time as my father - who traveled with me from Brussels."
She added: "We who don’t belong to a risk group have an enormous responsibility, our actions can be the difference between life and death for many others.
"Please keep that in mind, follow the advice from experts and your local authorities and #StayAtHome to slow the spread of the virus. And remember to always take care of each other and help those in need.
#COVID #flattenthecurve"
Coronavirus - Facts and Fears, will air tonight at 8:00pm ET.