Sinclair Pulls Sponsored Segment Featuring Conspiracy Theorist
Sinclair has pulled a sponsored lifestyle segment that featured far-right podcaster Stew Peters, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who has called for the execution of journalists and politicians.
According to Media Matters for America, 16 Sinclair-affiliated stations ran the two-minute segment between May and September. A quick check of TVEyes showed the most recent segment, featuring Peters, aired on the KATV morning news in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Sinclair told TVSpy, “We were not aware of the spokesperson’s history and do not condone his controversial rhetoric, this level of offensive speech is inconsistent with our standards of decency. The segment in question is no longer on our air and we have revised our internal review policies on sponsored content.”
From the Daily Beast:
The segment, which was sponsored by gold investor Goldco, featured Peters and D.C. based Sinclair meteorologist Brian van de Graff and kicked off with van de Graff boasting about Peters’ credentials. “He’s a former bounty hunter and host of The Stew Peters Show,” van de Graff said. “Stew is also the producer of the film Died Suddenly, which was viewed by over 30 million people worldwide.”
Died Suddenly is a debunked anti-vaccine film that peddles the conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccines are causing deadly blood clots in young healthy individuals, causing them to drop dead. The film proposes this is all part of a plot by “global elites” to depopulate the planet in order to establish a new totalitarian regime. (A previous film by Peters falsely claimed that the coronavirus vaccine is actually a synthetic snake venom.)
After credulously promoting Peters’ anti-vax movie, van de Graff then treats Peters as a financial expert, asking him his “thoughts on the recent bank bailouts and frail financial system.” Peters then tells viewers that “the only answer is to invest in precious metals, physical gold, and physical silver,” adding that they should turn to Goldco. (Notably, Peters previously cited Goldco “for making our Died Suddenly film possible.”)
Peters has called for the execution of journalists, politicians, LGBTQ advocates, and anyone who has promoted the Covid-19 vaccines. He recently aired a segment calling for Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to be executed because of Kelce’s endorsement of Pfizer’s shot.
