As conspiracy theorist talk show host Alex Jones stews in legal trouble over his claims that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, he can take some comfort in knowing he's got a superstar fan playing in the NBA.
Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving shared a clip of Jones ranting about the "New World Order" to his Instagram page, along with the words "Alex Jones tried to warn us."
“There is a tyrannical organization calling itself the ‘New World Order,’ pushing for worldwide government,” Jones says in the clip. “A cashless society. Total and complete tyranny. By centralizing and socializing healthcare, the state becomes god, basically, when it comes to your health. And by releasing diseases and viruses and plagues up on us, we basically get shoved into their system where human beings are absolutely worthless.”
The "new world order" conspiracy theory is influenced by older conspiracy theories about cabals of elites secretly ruling the world, such as the Illuminati, and gained prominence in the mid-20th century in anti-government right wing groups and conservative Christian circles concerned with the prophesied rise of the "Antichrist." It also frequently dabbles in anti-Semitism, with many theories placing powerful Jewish individuals among the imagined cabal.
This isn't the first time Irving has promoted a bogus conspiracy theory publicly.
In 2018, Irving made headlines for claiming the Earth was flat. During an appearance on the "Road Tripping with RJ and Channing" podcast, Irving told the hosts that flat earth "is not even a conspiracy theory" and stating without question that "the Earth is flat."
“If you really think about it from a landscape of the way we travel, the way we move and the fact that, can you really think of us rotating around the sun and all planets aligned?” Irving said. “There is no concrete information except for the information they’re giving us. They’re particularly putting you in the direction of what to believe and what not to believe. The truth is right there. You just got to go searching for it.”
Backlash ensued, and Irving was forced to apologise for his comments. He said he was "huge into conspiracies" at the time he made the statements.
“I was definitely at that time, ‘I’m a big conspiracy theorist. You can’t tell me anything.’ I’m sorry about all that,” he said after the blowback. “Even if you believe in that, don’t come out and say that stuff. That’s for intimate conversations because perception and how you’re received, it changes. I’m actually a smart-a** individual.”
He claimed he became engrossed in conspiracy theories after he fell down a "YouTube rabbit hole."
However, despite claiming he used to be into conspiracy theories, his social media is still filled with conspiratorial language and New Age ponderings.
"When you’re ready to Break free from the media’s control over your subconscious thoughts and emotions, meet me on One of my platforms and let's chop it up," he wrote on Twitter last month. "We the A11Even tribe love our conversations about the TRUTH and what is truly happening. Welcome to the PARADIGM SHIFT."
