Fact Check: Movie ‘Died Suddenly’ Does NOT Demonstrate That COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Sudden Death

Reused Claims

Does the movie “Died Suddenly” demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccinations cause widespread sudden death or severe medical outcomes? No, that’s not true: The film recycles previously debunked claims that the vaccine is lethal or dangerous for the average person receiving it.

More than 5.45 billion people have been vaccinated worldwide and public health experts recommend immunization against the virus, saying it is safe and effective. Relying on clinical safety trials and follow-up research, they maintain that it is incredibly rare for COVID vaccines to cause death or hospitalization.

The claims appeared in the movie (archived here) published to Rumble by the Stew Peters Network on November 21, 2022, titled “World Premiere: Died Suddenly.” The video’s description says:

Why do we never believe them? For centuries, the global elite have broadcast their intentions to depopulate the world – even to the point of carving them into stone. And yet… we never seem to believe them.

This is what the post looked like on Rumble at the time of writing:

(Source: Rumble screenshot taken Tue Nov 22 at 21:42:50 2022 UTC)

Sheep

In an opening backed by Pink Floyd’s “Sheep,” the movie sets up the premise that people across the country are dying for “overwhelming and unexplainable” reasons. The film then hits viewers with a rapid-fire barrage of images, from Big Foot to Jeffrey Epstein to UFOs to the shooting death of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald at the hands of Jack Ruby while still in police custody. The movie also contrasts Elvis Presley getting his polio vaccine in 1956 with Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci getting their COVID shots in December 2020. All, whether real or fictional, are surrounded by controversy or conspiracy theories.

False Claim: “Sudden Death” Google Links Prove Vaccine Lethality

As in the debunked trailer for the film, the full-length movie uses a montage of screenshots of October 2022 Google News searches about people who died suddenly. Despite the fact that Lead Stories on October 31, 2022 detailed the false linkage of those deaths to COVID vaccine, the film released three weeks later still includes the montage. At the 7:16 mark, the debunked montage appears. In its debunk of the montage, Lead Stories pointed out:

The montage flashes an article from October 16, 2022, headlined “Dad of two, 46, dies suddenly in his sleep.”

But the article makes no mention of a COVID vaccine. “Edward died in his sleep in the early hours of September 27, having spent some time in hospital while struggling with his mental health,” the article states.

Another article in the montage is headlined: “Actor’s sudden death aged 33,” but the piece itself explains that the actor died as a result of a “tragic fall” and does not mention vaccination.

Another article, the first-person essay of a mother who lost a son, is about his death in a car crash.

Deceptive Out-of-Context Bill Gates Soundbite

The film’s opening theme is the oft-debunked claim that global elites are trying to depopulate the planet by using vaccines. The film’s editors use, as evidence, a clip from a TED Talk given by Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2010. At 5:45 in the film, a clip is inserted in which Gates says:

Now, the world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent.

The quote from Gates, which has been stripped of meaningful context, is paired with one from a funeral director named Chad Whisnat at six minutes into the movie. He says:

Well, common sense would tell you, if you have a man standing in front of you say … he’s going to reduce the world’s population by 10 or 15% using vaccines. What does that mean to you? It means somebody’s gonna die because you put a vaccine in them. It doesn’t mean you’re going to save people. That’s pretty much common sense in my brain.

In its full context, Gates’ quote is not a suggestion that people can be killed off with vaccines.

It is a small segment of his long argument that cheap clean energy and public health vaccination campaigns increase the wealth of countries plagued by high birthrates that are a reaction to high death rates of children. In essence, Gates is arguing the opposite of what Whisnat says. It’s a complicated argument not represented by the quote used in “Died Suddenly.”

That out-of-context quote is favored by publishers of conspiracy theories about Gates.

In May 2020 Lead Stories debunked the false claim that is recycled in “Died Suddenly.” Listening to Gates’ whole talk, a viewer hears him describe how population growth drives energy demand and population growth can be slowed by reducing the number of children dying of preventable disease through life-saving vaccinations. As Lead Stories reported when the misinterpretation of Gates’ talk first went viral:

He argues it might be possible to reduce that growth a bit, knocking 10 or 15 percent of the increase. But that would still mean you would end up with 8.78 billion people instead of 9 billion, an increase of roughly 1.3 (instead of a decrease to zero).

So, what about the remarks about ‘new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services’? That is just what specialists studying population growth are saying. As people get richer they get more access to better health care so they stop having lots of babies because the risk of their children dying at an early age takes a steep dive. This means the total population stabilizes and stops growing after a while.

Lead Stories will add to this story as the rest of the “Died Suddenly” film is analyzed. Our story about the misinformation in the movie’s trailer can be found here.

Additional Lead Stories fact checks related to COVID-19 vaccines can be found here.