CNBC’s Rick Santelli starts shouting match on air over Covid-19 restrictions

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Santelli argued that it made no sense for restaurants to close to prevent the spread of Covid-19 when big box retailers are allowed to stay open. “You can’t tell me that closing, which is the simplest answer, is necessarily the only answer,” he said.

The comment prompted a quick rebuttal from CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin.

“As a public health and public service announcement to the public… the difference between a big box retailer and a restaurant or frankly even a church is so different it’s amazing,” Sorkin said.

Santelli retorted: “I don’t agree! … You can have your thoughts and I can have mine.”

Sorkin replied, “It’s science. I’m sorry. It’s science.”

U.S. health officials have made it clear that indoor spaces, and restaurants in particular, are areas at high risk for the virus to spread. Restaurants are particularly risky because eating and drinking requires diners to remove their masks. Big box stores are fundamentally different, as shoppers often have to keep their masks on and move into large, well-ventilated spaces.

Santelli was not influenced and he continued to scream. “It’s not science,” he said, saying customers at a Lowe’s store are no safer than those at a restaurant with limited capacity. “I do not believe it!”

An exasperated Sorkin stood firm, saying, “You don’t have to believe this. But just let me say this: You are doing the viewer a disservice.”

This isn’t the first time Santelli has come under fire for his unscientific claims about the virus. In March, he apologized on the air after suggesting that it would be a good idea to expose “everyone” to the coronavirus to avoid an economic collapse.

“It was the … dumbest thing anyone could have said,” he later explained.

A CNBC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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