The U.K. government’s leading medical adviser on Wednesday shrugged off being “harangued” in the street by a young man who branded him a “liar.”
Chris Whitty, one of the most prominent faces of the U.K.’s coronavirus fight, said a young man filming a video that was uploaded to social network TikTok in which he repeatedly accused him of deceiving the public about the pandemic was “showing off.”
In the video, filmed in London’s Victoria, the man can be heard shouting at Whitty: “Liar … You’re a liar. You lie about the COVID-19 cases. Stop lying to the TV, man.”
Downing Street on Wednesday branded the incident “unacceptable” and said the chief medical officer had worked “tirelessly to help steer us through what has been a very challenging time.” Health Secretary Matt Hancock called the young man “pathetic.”
Whitty downplayed the incident at the latest No. 10 press conference Wednesday, saying that being “harangued” by “the odd young lad showing off occasionally happens.”
Instead, he expressed hope the person he clashed with would emulate Captain Tom Moore, a 100-year-old health charity fundraiser and World War II veteran whose death on Tuesday prompted tributes from Britain’s political leaders.
Whitty said: “I didn’t think anything of it, frankly. I was very surprised it was picked up by the media at all as anything of any importance. I’m sure he’ll become a model citizen in due course and hopefully more like Captain Tom, who’s the kind of person who I think much more exemplifies the spirit of the U.K.”
Standing beside him, Prime Minister Boris Johnson added: “Hear, hear.”