Who is David Icke, the conspiracy theorist who blames 5G towers for coronavirus outbreak
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world, those refusing to believe its severity have come up with the theory that the novel coronavirus is being perpetrated by 5G towers that have begun popping up recently.
Chief amongst these conspiracy theorists is David Icke, a former footballer and sports broadcaster who has been extremely vocal about the perceived pitfalls of the next-generation mobile technology for at least a year and has been touted numerous times by Alex Jones.
To get a basic idea of what Icke is all about, one needs to just go through his Twitter page, where he does not mince his words when it comes to technology, or what he thinks is the malicious force behind the pandemic.
He has claimed that 5G is "untested and cumulatively evil," that it "dramatically increases the virus' power," and that at 60 GHz, it "stops humans from absorbing oxygen."
He has also claimed that pandemics are a conspiracy theory of the elite to assert global control, slammed White House advisors Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci repeatedly, and has taken particular offense to Bill Gates' existence.
Icke suggested Gates was one of the world's most "sinister people" and that the pandemic was a part of his plan to enslave humanity via nanotechnology microchips in the vaccinations he was working on developing for the virus, before warning everyone to "watch him."
All those aforementioned claims were made in the last 24 hours alone, and a deep dive into the page-turner theories which are so wild and far-fetched, they wouldn't look out of place in a Dan Brown novel.
The 67-year-old has recently found himself in the news again following a live-streamed interview where he once again linked COVID-19 to 5G and insisted there was a link between the technology and the current health crisis.
He also addressed the news reports that many around the UK were setting 5G phone masts ablaze in a bid to stop the spread of the virus, something that had forced mobile network providers to come out and debunk the "baseless rumors."
Icke, however, approved of the fires and said, "If 5G continues and reaches where they want to take it, human life as we know it is over... so people have to make a decision."
It was a sentiment that a large proportion of his 65,000 viewers at the time shared, with many calling for further attacks on the towers in the comments that appeared alongside the feed.
That interview was eventually deleted by YouTube, who said in a statement, "We have clear policies that prohibit videos promoting medically unsubstantiated methods to prevent the coronavirus in place of seeking medical treatment, and we quickly remove videos violating these policies when flagged to us."
"Now any content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the WHO [World Health Organization] and local health authorities is in violation of YouTube policies. This includes conspiracy theories which claim that the symptoms are caused by 5G."
It didn't stop Icke from peddling the claim on other social media platforms as well, where, in one post, he said the 5G WiFi radiation was capable of controlling minds by citing a video posted by Retired President Of Microsoft Canada Frank Clegg talking about how the technology was not safe.
The claims about 5G are just Icke staying true to form. He has authored over 20 books such as 'The Robots' Rebellion', 'The Biggest Secret', and 'Children of the Matrix' to name a few, and numerous DVDs, mostly spouting over-the-top conspiracy theories.
It all seemingly started in 1990 while he was still a spokesman for the UK's Green Party, and revealed he visited a psychic who told him he had been placed on Earth for a purpose and would begin to receive messages from the spirit world.
One of those messages led him to announce the following year that he was a "Son of the Godhead" and that the world would soon be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes.
He believes that an interdimensional race of reptilian beings called the Archons have hijacked the Earth and that a genetically modified human-Archon hybrid race of shape-shifting reptilians "manipulate" global events to keep humans in a state of constant fear that the Archons use to feed.
Furthermore, he claims any and every prominent figure belongs to the Archon race and that they are propelling humanity toward an Orwellian global fascist state where freedom of speech no longer exists, something he regularly brings up on his social media now as countries around the world enforce lockdown to slow the outbreak.
As the pandemic rages on, Icke's voice is only going to get louder, especially in light of the recent attention coming his way over his inexplicably popular 5G claims.