Hollywood screenwriter Terry Rossio faced online backlash Friday after he used a racial slur in a tweet railing against vaccines, reported multiple media outlets.

Rossio, 58, sparked anger after he claimed that calling someone who was against vaccinations “Anti-Vax” was the “equivalent to calling someone” a racial slur, spelling out the word in his tweet.

My heart goes out to all the parents of vaccine damaged children, who have to not only endure the sadness of their loss, but also the vitriol of ill-informed and insensitive people (such as those here). Anti-Vax is equivalent to calling someone a nigger and makes as little sense. — Terry Rossio (@TerryRossio) November 23, 2018

It “makes as little sense,” added Rossio, whose writing credits include box office hits “Shrek,” “Aladdin” and the “Pirates Of The Caribbean” franchise.

For the record, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “anti-vaxxer” as “a person who opposes vaccination or laws that mandate vaccination.”

Rossio’s comment was in response to a thread initially started by Erik Burnham, who said anti-vaxxers “made me grind my teeth,” per BuzzFeed News. Burnham has since deleted his message. Rossio’s post followed one from “The 100” writer Julie Benson, which called on people to donate money to UNICEF’s polio vaccination program in the name of their anti-vaxxer relatives:

Rossio’s response drew immediate ire from fellow tweeters, who called him out for using the racial slur and promoting the widely debunked conspiracy theory that childhood vaccines can cause autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states on its website that there is “no link between vaccines and autism.”

It should be noted that Rossio was in 2016 reported to have secured the movie rights to a book by disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield, who conducted a study in the 1990s claiming to have proof of a link between childhood vaccines and autism. It was found to contain falsified data and was later retracted.

Equating being called antivaxx with a dehumanizing slur that is associated with not just decades but centuries of oppression, enslavement, abuse & death is the most tone deaf, arrogant thing you could do. — Cipher (@snarkylicious) November 23, 2018

God, this is such a good point. I remember how American founders and citizens enslaved vaccine skeptics for decades. And then, even after freeing them, the government enshrined laws to marginalize vaccine deniers and to deny them wealth and opportunity. That's just history. — Jeffrey Grubb (@JeffGrubb) November 23, 2018

There is no equivalent to the n word. None. Not in this country. — Cara Berg Powers (@clbergpowers) November 23, 2018

Let's see: Black people have different color skin through no conscious action of their own.



Vax conspiracists intentionally play dice with their children's lives and weaponize their kids and knowingly send them out in a potentially vulnerable community.



Yeah, that's the same. — Greg Branch (@Branch_Greg) November 24, 2018

Not just ignorant, but also racist (and with a super-heavy dose of whiny oblivious victimhood to boot). Reported and blocked. — Shananana Loftis (@shannonloftis) November 23, 2018

This tweet is disgusting, of all the words in the English language you had to use that one? Yet you call yourself a writer? As a white person that word makes me feel shame, and sadness I could never use it. This tweet says a lot about you, none of it good. — Terri Thompson (@oneleglover) November 24, 2018

No, that is not an equivalent to the racial slur. — Your Dad On The Internet (@ravingsockmonky) November 23, 2018

There's so much wrong with that it's hard to know where to start, but I'll try.



1) Don't compare the n-word to anything. Just don't. *Especially* don't say it uncensored unless you're black.



2) Being anti-vax is a choice which is likely to harm vulnerable people. — Funaria (@AnomriaReid) November 23, 2018

Even Dictionary.com joined in:

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