From flat-Earthers to moon-landing denial, conspiracy theories have by no means been restricted to fringe corners of the web. Today, even family names appear completely comfy slipping on a tinfoil hat of their downtime.
Most just lately, Kim Kardashian admitted she doesn’t consider the moon touchdown truly occurred — a declare she backed up with an alleged Buzz Aldrin quote. Predictably, the backlash got here quick, with NASA itself chiming in (extra on that later).
And it made me surprise about all the opposite celebrities who’ve wandered into conspiracy territory. From B.o.B. entering into an precise rap beef with Neil deGrasse Tyson over flat-earth theories to Roseanne Barr amplifying QAnon speaking factors, loads of well-known faces have used their platforms to push some actually questionable concepts — lots of which have been publicly debunked.
So, listed below are 16 celebrities who brazenly shared their wildest conspiracy theories…and left the remainder of us speechless.
1.
Most just lately, Kim Kardashian stated that the 1969 moon touchdown “did not occur” throughout a latest episode of The Kardashians, the place she’s talking to Sarah Paulson. Kim defined that she learn a quote from Buzz Aldrin concerning the scariest second of his journey to the moon. “This woman says, ‘What was the scariest second?’ And he says, ‘There was no scary second as a result of it didn’t occur. It might’ve been scary, but it surely wasn’t as a result of it didn’t occur,” Kim stated. Elsewhere, she stated that the Apollo 11 mission was “faux” and that there are “a couple of movies on Buzz Aldrin speaking about the way it didn’t occur.”
2.
Regardless of an amazing quantity of data suggesting in any other case, Kyrie Irving jumped off the porch in 2017 when he claimed to be a flat-earther (spoiler alert: he will not be the one one on this record). He later apologized after the dialog sparked uproar, although he admitted that he loved listening to individuals from each side debate.
3.
For “Airplanes” rapper B.o.B., the flat-earth dialog resulted in a rap battle towards…Neil DeGrasse Tyson. B.o.B. went on a spree on X, previously often called Twitter, explaining why he believes the Earth is flat and why he feels NASA hasn’t been truthful concerning the world’s edge. Tyson finally responded again on X earlier than B.o.B. took their beef to wax on a music referred to as “Flatline,” the place he referred to as Tyson out by identify. In response, Tyson dropped a music referred to as “Flat To Truth,” written and recorded by his nephew Stephen Tyson.
4.
Ye (fka Kanye West) has made some egregious claims over time, however one of the insensitive and downright evil conspiracies he is pushed was that Derek Chauvin did not truly kill George Floyd. Throughout a controversial episode of the Drink Champs podcast, Ye spoke about Candace Owens’s documentary on BLM and stated that the previous police officer’s “knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.” He additionally stated that “they hit [George Floyd] with the fentanyl.”
5.
Terrence Howard publicly rejected primary arithmetic in favor of his personal system of math that he calls “Terryology.” In an interview with Rolling Stone, Howard defined how he believes 1×1=2. “If one occasions one equals one, that implies that two is of no worth as a result of one occasions itself has no impact. One occasions one equals two as a result of the sq. root of 4 is 2, so what’s the sq. root of two? Needs to be one, however we’re advised it’s two, and that can not be,” he advised the publication in 2015 about an argument he had with a professor when he studied chemical engineering at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He stated he left college shortly after. “I imply, you’ll be able to’t conform when you realize innately that one thing is improper.”
6.
Jaden Smith has pushed some very odd theories all through his life. In a single occasion, he advised HuffPost that he believed there was a real-life Wakanda the place the expertise was light-years forward of something we’re conscious of. “I’ll preserve it actual broad and easy, actual broad and easy. The expertise that we’re at the moment at isn’t the utmost of the human functionality,” he stated, “and that there are locations on this planet the place their expertise supersedes what we see right here every day. It’s made by people, and it must be acknowledged, and it must be checked out as a result of it might heal a number of issues.”
7.
We might have an entire standalone record of conspiracy theories President Donald Trump has pushed, however just lately, he claimed that using Tylenol in pregnant ladies is linked to autism.
8.
One other member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, Kylie Jenner, additionally pushed a couple of conspiracy theories in her time. A decade in the past, she introduced again a fan-favorite from the ’90s: chemtrails. In a 2015 tweet, she shared a picture that posed a collection of questions on chemtrails, which Vox describes as “skinny clouds that type after a response between temperature modifications and water within the ambiance when jet plane fly round.” However Kylie’s submit steered that the federal government was spraying chemical compounds into the sky, and it was having a destructive impact on our well being.
9.
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine was definitely on the forefront of right-wing conspiracy theories earlier than the Trump administration normalized them. In 2012, the musician claimed that the Obama administration staged shootings to push their gun ban legal guidelines. “[Obama]’s attempting to go a gun ban, so he’s staging all of those murders, just like the Quick And Livid factor down on the border; [the massacre in] Aurora, Colorado, all of the folks that have been killed there; and now the attractive individuals on the Sikh temple,” he stated, per The Hollywood Reporter.
10.
Rosie O’Donnell discovered herself in controversy over time as somebody who has been labeled a “9/11 truther.” She’s brazenly stated that she does not consider the official story of the tragic incident.
11.
This record would not be full with out together with a couple of COVID-19-related conspiracy theories. In 2021, Nicki Minaj shared an anecdote about her cousin’s mates that made her hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine with out additional analysis. “My cousin in Trinidad gained’t get the vaccine cuz his buddy acquired it & grew to become impotent. His testicles grew to become swollen. His buddy was weeks away from getting married, now the woman referred to as off the marriage. So simply pray on it & be sure you’re comfy with ur choice, not bullied,” she tweeted.
12.
Ted Nugent has been on the forefront of local weather change denial, and has even gone so far as claiming it is a “rip-off.” “It’s important to have sh*t for brains to consider this international warming bullsh*t,” Nugent stated on his Spirit Campfire podcast. “In case you consider it, you might have sh** for brains. When you have been sleeping, somebody opened your cranium and took a dump inside your cranium.” In that very same episode, he stated that folks “need to be mentally ailing to consider in electrical automobiles.”
13.
Roseanne Barr boldly embraced QAnon conspiracy theories in 2018. “President Trump has freed so many youngsters held in bondage to pimps throughout this world. A whole bunch every month. He has damaged up trafficking rings in excessive locations in all places. discover that. I disagree on some issues, however give him good thing about doubt-4 now,” she stated in a now-deleted tweet.”
14.
Elon Musk has used X to push a lot of conspiracy theories since shopping for the platform. In 2023, Musk co-signed a submit on X that learn, “Jewish communities have been pushing the precise sort of dialectical hatred towards whites that they declare to need individuals to cease utilizing towards them. I am deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that these hordes of minorities that assist flooding their nation do not precisely like them an excessive amount of.” In response, Musk wrote, “You may have stated the precise reality.”
15.
Hercules star Kevin Sorbo was amongst those that seemed to be in denial about those that stormed the Capitol on January 6. When somebody posted a photograph of a number of the individuals who swarmed the Capitol with the caption, “Do these appear to be Trump supporters? Or Leftist agitators disguised as Trump supporters…” Sorbo, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote in response, “They don’t appear to be patriots to me…”
