Celebrity

Cher, Michael Moore and More Celebrities React to the Flint Water Crisis in Michigan

One celebrity is even calling for the Michigan governor's arrest.
by 1/19/2016

Flint, Michigan is in serious trouble after the tap water running through the city was deemed toxic by officials. According to CNN, Flint temporarily switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River to cut costs, which turned out to be a major mistake. Researchers at Virginia Tech determined the water from the Flint River was “highly corrosive,” and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality didn’t do anything about it. The poisonous elements have since seeped into the water in homes all across the city, meaning young children have been drinking it. For months.

The National Guard and other aid organizations are distributing filtered water bottles around the city, which has a population of about 100,000. Both President Barack Obama and Governor Rick Snyder have declared a state of emergency.

And celebrities, politicians and public figures are reacting to this emergency–both in real life and on social media. Cher and Icelandic Glacial have partnered to send 181,440 bottles of water to Flint by Wednesday. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both criticized Snyder for his seemingly-blasé attitude toward the entire situation. (Snyder responded to the remarks via Twitter.) The most outrageous star reaction came from filmmaker Michael Moore, who created a petition demanding Snyder be arrested. In the document, Moore writes Michigan “effectively poisoned, not just some, but apparently ALL of the children in my hometown.”

Check out a few of the Twitter reactions below, and let us know what you think about this crisis in the comments.

@chrisrosa92