Article content The Town of Essex councillor who downplayed COVID-19 and called it the “Chinese flu” in tweets claims he’s been made the target of “cancel culture.” “It is legal to utter the words ‘Chinese flu’ and people do so thousands of times per day, all over the world,” said a defiant Chris Vander Doelen during a town council meeting on Monday night. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser, or Essex town councillor refuses to formally apologize for 'Chinese flu' tweets Back to video “There was nothing racist or remotely hateful or even vaguely insulting about my tweets, and it is slanderous to suggest that.”