Stephen Fry Reveals How Right-Wing Media Crippled America's Coronavirus Defense

British screen icon Stephen Fry ’s latest explainer video looks at the coronavirus pandemic and what it’ll take to protect the population. 

His new video for Pindex also examines the opposite: what has hurt the effort, especially in the United States, which is closing in on 50,000 deaths from the infection. 

“Misinformation spread through a rich network, crippling America’s defenses,” Fry said over clips of Fox News , radio host Rush Limbaugh and right-wing evangelicals.

Fry, who was once voted the most intelligent person on British television,  noted that a 2012 study  found “Fox News viewers to be less informed than people who don’t watch any news.” Then, he showed how President Donald Trump has repeatedly contradicted himself on the virus, first downplaying it before finally recognizing the extent of the crisis: