QAnon leader Michael Protzman dies in dirtbike accident, followers claim it’s just a hoax

A leader of the QAnon conspiracy cult died last weekend in a dirt bike accident — though his minions believe his death is fabricated and part of a larger plan.

Michael Protzman, 60, known to his followers as Negative 48, died Friday in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota a week after an accident at the Meadow Valley Motocross track in Millville, Minnesota, VICE News confirmed.

According to the medical examiner, Protzman succumbed to his “multiple blunt force injuries” after he “lost control of his dirt bike.”

Protzman served as a god-like figure to his thousands of cult followers since rising to notoriety in 2021.

He was known for spreading conspiracies on his Telegram channel that mixed QAnon beliefs and a bastardized version of Gematria, a Jewish numerology system, which he claimed to be able to use to predict the future, according to VICE.

He helped convinced thousands of followers that former president Donald Trump was actually John F. Kennedy, Jr. in disguise.

Protzman gained widespread attention in November 2021 after ushering hundreds to Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, where he claimed JFK, along with JFK, Jr., would reappear 58 years after his assassination.

According to the theory, the late Democratic president would then “reinstate Trump as commander-in-chief and help him in carrying out the persecution of a global cabal of pedophilic, blood-drinking liberal elites that QAnon devotees believe run the world,” Chron reported.

When JFK failed to make his presence known, Protzman backpedaled and brought the group back six months later after stating Trump spoke to him in code during a rally to tell him he had gotten the original date wrong.

His conspiracies continued to alter in the following months until he settled on the theory that he was in direct contact with Trump, who was JFK Jr. in disguise.

Hundreds of his minions ditched their families and careers and spent their life savings to blindly follow Protzman’s ever-changing teachings over the years.

Protzman’s faithful followers are so deeply entrenched in his conspiracies that they believe their leader’s recent death is just another hoax.

Shelly Mullinax is one of Protzman’s earliest followers but had a falling out with him and other members of the group last year. She remains convinced of the conspiracies surrounding JFK and said only part of the leader died.

She told VICE that “the evil version” of Protzman was killed in the accident, while the good part of his being — who is actually JFK Jr. in a mask — is alive and continuing his work.

“If that was the plan that God had for him, I know that everything is going to be revealed soon,” Mullinax said.

Several other family members of Protzman’s followers told the outlet that their loved ones have dismissed the news of Protzman’s death as fake.

In one Telegram channel inundated by the cult, an admin wrote that they would remove all posts relating to his death until they “have absolute verification.”

At least one follower has been kicked out of their Truth Social group for asking a question about Protzman’s condition in the lead-up to his death.