Uber Eats Drops Jay Cutler From Ad Campaign Over Social Media COVID-19 Posts

Uber Technologies Inc UBER has dropped former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler from an advertising campaign for Uber Eats following the athlete’s social media postings on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and the use of face masks in schools.

What Happened: Cutler briefly left Instagram in late July after sharing a video that questioned COVID-19 data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The platform flagged the video as containing potentially misleading information; Cutler has since deleted the video and returned to Instagram posting.

Butler reactivated his Twitter Inc TWTR last week and retweeted three posts showing opposition by some parents attending a school board meeting in Tennessee’s Williamson County, where Cutler resides. In one retweet, Cutler joked about the threat of online cancel culture by quipping, “Really hope I’m not put in the corner by Twitter in my first 24 hrs.”

While Twitter didn’t cancel Cutler, Uber did. Cutler also relayed via Twitter: “Lost a commercial with Uber eats partnering with the NFL. Was going to film in LA, ‘views aren't aligned.’ Guess they don't like future School board members. Frees up my weekend.”

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What Else Happened: Cutler made headlines in 2014 when he joined his then-wife Kristin Cavallari in stating they would not vaccinate their children because they believed vaccines can cause autism. He has not made any public statements questioning the value of the vaccines used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nonetheless, Uber issued a statement to the New York Post acknowledging it dropped Cutler because espoused anti-vaccination views.

“We are proud of all the work Uber has done over the last year to help get as many people vaccinated as possible,” the company said. “As such, we prefer to partner with those who support that work.”

Cutler later shrugged off Uber Eats’ decision to part company, deadpanning via Twitter: “Tend to cook at home anyway.”

Photo: John Martinez Pavliga, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons