How Pete Evans is make a fortune by posting coronavirus conspiracy theories with his recipes
Celebrity chef Pete Evans stands to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by spreading dangerous conspiracy theories.
Since being dumped from his $800,000 Channel 7 contract to host My Kitchen Rules, he has pivoted to being a wellness guru on social media.
And while Evans has always promoted controversial remedies, he has branched out into coronavirus conspiracies during the pandemic.
He now shares dozens of posts, memes, and videos a week on social media denying the deadly virus’s severity while hawking phony ‘health’ products.
But at the same time as downplaying the dangers Evans has targeted his 1.75million social media followers with sponsored posts for an ineffective $15,000 BioCharger lamp and essential oils that claim to combat coronavirus.
There it is! Conspiracy theorist Pete Evans has doubled down on his use of the ineffective BioCharger, sharing a photo to Instagram on Thursday of himself using the $15,000 lamp
He shares dozens of posts, memes, and videos a week on social media denying the deadly virus’ severity while hocking phony ‘health’ products. But at the same time, his sponsored posts to 1.75 million social media followers include a $15,000 lamp, and essential oils (pictured) that claim to combat coronavirus
Celebrity agent Max Markson said Evans’ enormous reach to an enthusiastic and impressionable customer base was extremely lucrative.
‘There’s a massive market for conspiracy theories and serious money, even if only one per cent of people believe them,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Pete Evans is also genuine, he believes it, so there’s an authenticity that adds to his credibility in this market.
‘Only a small number of people will follow him, but they will be loyal and engaged. He’s got a market and he will be making money from it.’
Markson said controversial essential oils company doTERRA, which Evans frequently promotes, was a market that many people trusted.
‘There’s a big community that believes in essentials oils and spends money on them, and coronavirus has caused a huge surge in interest,’ he said.
‘People are earning more than $2,000 a month direct selling them to their contacts so Evans could be earning much more promoting it.’
In use: He also claimed that his family used the ‘non-invasive’ lamp ‘pretty much every day’
Conspiracy theorist and celebrity chef Pete Evans doubles down on his use of controversial $15,000 BioCharger lamp – after copping a whopping fine for $25,200 after he promoted it
Multilevel marketing company doTERRA has come under fire for claiming its essential oils can help fight coronavirus, but Evans has made numerous sponsored posts for it.
Markson said an influencer with Evans’ following could easily make $250,000 a year from sponsored posts alone – $5,000 each, and a celebrity with loyal fans like Evans could earn even more with a cut of the sales.
‘Don’t cry for Pete Evans losing MKR, he’s got a big following of people who like him, admire him, and respect him, and conspiracy theory people believe in him,’ he said.
‘It’s an implied endorsement if he plugs something.’
Evans’ influx of new conspiracy theorist followers would also increase sales of his cookbooks and other projects.
He will soon open the Evolve Health Labs ‘healing clinic’ in notorious anti-vaxxer haven Byron Bay and is a key investor in the Nightcap on Minjungbal hippie commune nearby.
Nightcap on Minjungbal (site pictured) is being developed at Mount Burrell near Nimbin
The website says: ‘We are very open “alternative” style dwellings such as Earth-ships, Shipping Container Homes and so forth’. Pictured is an example of a cabin built by a designer who is working on the project
‘When he opens that health clinic, his fans will go there. At least the food will be great,’ Markson said.
Among the sponsored content was the $15,000 BioCharger lamp, which he promoted as a potential coronavirus cure.
Evans was slapped with a $25,200 infringement notice by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for making false claims.
According to the product’s website, ‘the BioCharger NG is a hybrid subtle energy revitalization platform.
‘The transmitted energy stimulates and invigorates the entire body to optimize and improve potential health, wellness, and athletic performance.’
There is no evidence to support this. The BioCharger is just an expensive lamp.
Inside Pete’s strange world: The new venture, located in the Habitat Lifestyle Precinct on Bayshore Drive, has welcomed some new additions since renovations began in May
New addition: A large cryotherapy booth, otherwise known as an ‘arctic chamber’, has been installed inside the clinic in recent weeks
Earlier this month Evans promoted controversial essential oils company doTERRA, which has also come under fire for claiming it can help combat coronavirus.
Social psychology Mathew Marques, from La Trobe University, told The New Daily these types of posts, where celebrities sell unfounded treatments or devices, were just profiting off the pandemic.
The celebrity chef, who has a number of top selling cookbooks, has come under fire for his controversial posts.
Evans has been widely criticised for falsely referring to the coronavirus crisis as a ‘plandemic’ orchestrated by government officials.
But that hasn’t stopped him.
Evans listed his Malabar mansion for sale earlier this month as he makes his next move to Australia’s hippie capital, Byron Bay, where he is set to open a ‘healing clinic’.
According to the company’s Instagram account, the clinic will offer ‘transformational practices’ such as ‘cold and conscious breath-work’ and ‘cryotherapy’.
Evans and his wife, Kiwi glamour model Nicola Robinson, 42, will auction off the five-bedroom property next month, with a buying guide of $3.2million
Covidiot: Pete (right) was fined $25,200 in April for promoting the lamp which he claimed could help treat coronavirus
Help me! In a desperate call to action on Saturday, Evans told his Facebook followers to share his posts with their friends because people aren’t seeing his content organically
Evans owns a farm just a short drive from Byron Bay, and has been self-isolating on the property with his family for much of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month Evans claimed people who wore face masks to stop the spread of the virus were ‘weak’.
The former My Kitchen Rules judge made the dangerous claims in a 40-minute Facebook video.
In the footage, which is no longer available online, Evans wore a red MAGA hat and cited a American Doctor Ben Tapper, who likened eating junk food to putting metaphorical boulders in a backpack.
‘[People who] put a mask on, that is another f***ing boulder in your backpack. It is another sign of weakness, suppression, muzzling,’ he said, according to The Daily Telegraph.
In July, he claimed that COVID-19 was a ‘f**king hoax’ and that the pandemic ‘doesn’t compare to what is happening in the world on a large scale’.
He has also encouraged people to ignore government safety measures, such as the order to wear masks in public in Victoria, and to challenge fines through the courts.
Among his false claims about the pandemic, Evans has previously declared he’s immune to coronavirus, and blamed the health crisis on 5G technology.
He also endorsed fellow conspiracy theorist David Icke, a Holocaust denier who was denied entry to Australia last year after protests from the Jewish community.
It is not suggested that Evans endorses the views of Icke relating specifically to Holocaust denial or the Jewish people. He instead supports Icke’s views on globalist conspiracy theories and media manipulation.
In recent years, Evans, an author of more than 25 books, has garnered criticism over his views on diets and medicine.
In 2017, he produced a paleo documentary film on Netflix, The Magic Pill, which claimed people suffering from illnesses like cancer, diabetes and autism can reduce their symptoms and cut down on prescription medicine by changing their diet for five weeks.
Last year, doctors publicly called on the cook to stop sharing his own health advice after he released an anti-vaxx podcast.
Evans’ central belief is that ‘food is medicine’ and that by following a Paleo diet, people can develop superhuman immune systems that can withstand all illnesses, including COVID-19.
There is absolutely no scientific basis for this. Following a particular diet does not make a person any less likely to contract the deadly respiratory virus.
Leaving his mark: Pete also made sure to include unique features that one might expect from a controversial ‘wellness guru’. These include an infrared sauna, tea room, heated magnesium swimming pool, ozone spa, fluoride-free water facilities, and solar panels
ANTI-MASKERS’ DUBIOUS ‘LEGAL’ ARGUMENTS DEBUNKED
By Nic White for Daily Mail Australia
Groups opposing lockdowns, mask wearing, and police authority in general rely on a series of dubious arguments that are easily discredited:
Rules are ‘directives’ not ‘laws’
A common theme to infuriating exchanges with police is that the public health orders are invalid because Parliament never approved them.
They claim such ‘directives’ can only be enforced by ‘consent’ and thus can be ignored at will.
However, the Public Health and Wellbeing Act of 2008 does give state governments and their chief health officers power to impose restrictions.
Section 200 of the act explicitly states they can can restrict movement or ‘give any other direction that the authorised officer considers is reasonably necessary to protect public health’.
These powers kick in when a state of emergency is declared by the state government, which Premier Daniel Andrews did in Victoria on March 16.
Extra powers kick in when a state of emergency is declared by the state government, which Premier Daniel Andrews did in Victoria on March 16
Section 193 of the act allows for stay at home directions, which Deputy Chief Health Officer Finn Romanes enacted on July 22.
This directive also covers the wearing of face masks, as it states people can only leave their house while wearing one – exceptions notwithstanding.
Victoria also passed its own COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Act 2020 to strengthen these emergency powers.
State of emergency is invalid
Some conspiracy theorists claim the state of emergency shouldn’t have been imposed in the first place.
They quote what they believe to be the conditions that must be established, including that a deadly pathogen must be present around the country.
As they deny the seriousness of Covid-19, they declare there is ‘no deadly virus’ in Australia.
The 167 Australians who have died from coronavirus, and their families, would beg to differ.
Police don’t have authority to enforce orders
Many of the video feature coronavirus deniers refusing to answer police questions or give their details.
They make bizarre appeals to common law overriding state legislation, which are discussed at the end of this article.
Again, the Public Health and Wellbeing Act of 2008 comes into play as it empowers health officials to ask police for help enforcing directives.
Police officers can usually only ask for someone’s details if they are committing a crime or are reasonably believed to be about to be.
But the Act extends this to investigating, eliminating or reducing the risk to public health.
Police can also detain anyone deemed a ‘serious risk to public health’, so long as they are warned that refusal to comply would lead to their arrest.
‘We will not hesitate to issue fines to people who are obviously and blatantly showing a disregard for community safety by failing to wear a mask,’ Victorian Police said on July 26.
‘Police are working incredibly hard to keep the community safe and this type of behaviour is unacceptable and unnecessary.’
Police are violating human rights
Conspiracy theorists make frequent reference to the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This does not actually create any laws, it is just an undertaking to preserve and protect human rights around the world.
What rights citizens do have are in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act.
This compels Parliament to balance any infringement on human rights, as laid down in the act, and produce a ‘statement of compatibility’.
This balancing act is known as ‘proportionality testing’ and weighs, in this case, forcing people to wear masks with the threat of illness and death.
Parliament took this into account when passing the Public Health and Wellbeing Act of 2008, and health officials have done the same this year.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton even explained on Tuesday that human rights laws enshrined the right to exercise during lockdown.
‘They are entitled to exercise within their home and their garden, ideally. People who have no garden and have no other option, have a right to exercise,’ he said.
‘The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities is pretty clear that if you aren’t giving people an option to exercise then you are effectively putting them in prison and that’s not something that can be done for a case of coronavirus or for anyone else for that matter.’
Mr Andrews has very little time for human rights arguments, pointing out that not dying of coronavirus is a rather important right.
‘Seriously, one more comment about human rights – honestly. It is about human life,’ he said.
‘If we continue with this stuff, standing in the car park of Bunnings reading whatever nonsense you have pulled up from some obscure website…’
Mr Andrews later apologised for losing his cool, but reiterated that police were doing what needed to be done.
‘[Police] are trying to be as fair as they possibly can be,’ he said, ‘but if you’re just making a selfish choice based on your belief, your personal belief, quoting something you’ve read on some website, it’s not about human rights.’
Even Human Rights Law Centre executive director Hugh de Kretser isn’t giving the conspiracy theorists any cover.
‘Being required to wear a mask in public in Melbourne does not breach human rights,’ he said.
‘It’s a very small limit on personal freedom for a very good reason; saving lives and protecting public health. There are sensible exceptions set out in the rules.
‘Those who claim their rights are being breached are wrong.’
Businesses are discriminating by requiring masks before entry
Some anti-maskers have accused businesses of being in breach of anti-discrimination laws by refusing them entry.
Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott said he stood behind the Bunnings workers in the video
The problem with this argument is that all the other regulations around mask wearing aren’t even relevant because businesses have the right refuse entry at their discretion.
Rick Sarre, the Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the University of South Australia, says Australian businesses have the right to require customers to wear face masks.
‘Australian law, quite simply, says that private landowners or occupiers can take reasonable steps to protect themselves, their employees and people on their property,’ he wrote in The Conversation.
‘So it would be legal for businesses – including cafes and supermarkets – to make it a condition of entry that customers wear a mask and sanitise their hands.’
Ms Nash claims she has a medical exemption to wearing a mask, which she never specified.
If she had produced proof of this, the whole situation could have been avoided.
Why these people are dangerous
Associate Professor Luke Beck Monash University’s law faculty said the group appeared to be an offshoot of the sovereign citizen movement.
‘These people make these kinds of pseudo-legal arguments, usually to try and get out of parking fines or paying council rates or things like that,’ he told SBS.
‘Some of these people think if you utter particular words or emphasise particular ‘facts’, it will somehow get you out of things.’
This is problematic for functioning society at the best of times, but University of Melbourne law Associate Professor Jonathan Liberman said it was downright dangerous during a pandemic.
‘These people are trying to encourage others to do things that put people’s health at risk and that will ultimately lead to these restrictions being in place for a lot longer,’ he said.
‘They are also promoting a rejection of the rule of law and a rejection of a harmonious society.’
*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Daily Mail can be found here ***
