First he tried to sell us a $15,000 “light machine” he claimed would help the body fight off the coronavirus.
Now, celebrity chef Pete Evans has joined the coronavirus conspiracy theory bandwagon: His social media over the past few days has seen him share content about the rumour-heavy links between the virus and Bill Gates – a stance similar to the anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne on Sunday at which 10 protesters were arrested.
On Tuesday, his Instagram stories were full of “code words” he told his followers to “look out for” in the media that would apparently reveal that high-profile figures were being executed, under the guise of having COVID-19.
He removed the posts by the afternoon (replacing them with his baking efforts) but not before they were screenshot and shared widely.
Evans’ Instagram hijinks have kicked into overdrive in the lead up to his official departure as a judge on Channel Seven’s My Kitchen Rules last week.
The day before he and the cooking reality show parted ways, he was urging his followers to watch an interview with Holocaust denier David Icke, who was spouting 5G conspiracies and claiming COVID-19 was fake.
Today, Pete Evans shared an interview with David Icke – the conspiracy theorist famous for believing that lizard people literally run the Earth. pic.twitter.com/mHtMB3764k
— cmwlsn (@cameronwilson) May 5, 2020
Some people are calling it a meltdown.
Others are saying it’s the real Evans coming out, dedicating his public persona to what he believes in.
TV guru at TV Blackbox Rob McKnight drew parallels between “Paleo Pete” and the US President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think Pete Evans cares about his TV career,” McKnight told The New Daily.
“I think he’s realised that he can make a lot more money talking to his base – like Donald Trump, who’s realised he can get a lot more support just talking to his base.”
Evans certainly seems to be following Mr Trump’s lead in his coronavirus commentary – when spruiking the BioCharger (for which he attracted a hefty fine), he referred to COVID-19 as “the Wuhan virus”.
The president has repeatedly copped flack for referring to the virus as the same, or the “Chinese virus”.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Pete Evans (@chefpeteevans) on
“[Evans has] always been a guy with controversial views and that has made it hard for Channel 7 in the past, but now he and My Kitchen Rules have parted ways, and we’ve heard it was an amicable parting, he’s free to concentrate on his lifestyle beliefs,” McKnight said.
So what does Evans’ career look like post-MKR?
Just as McKnight predicted, he’s committing to living his best life – and encouraging everyone to come along with him.
On Monday, he teased about his upcoming film, which is “all about cannabis”.
The Magic Plant will be the follow up to The Magic Pill, his paleo documentary from 2017 that attracted an howling tribe that demanded it be pulled from Netflix.
That, and he’s listening to a lot of The Beatles.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Pete Evans (@chefpeteevans) on
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