’98 per cent of news is fake’: Jake Paul is the latest Covid-denying internet loser

I guess it’s hardly a shock

3 years ago

Jake Paul is many things, but conspiracy theorist is a word few people would associate with him until now. Just when you thought he’d scurried back into the depths of the hole that he crawled into, never to return, he has reappeared as the latest internet celebrity to deny Covid – and oh boy has this made him seem like even more of a tool than you ever thought possible.

In the car crash interview with The Daily Beast, Jake makes several claims, most notably among them that the majority of news is fake and that he believes Covid is a “hoax”. The interview also explores several personal issues such as his use of the N-word, the FBI raid on his property and his idolisation of Lil Wayne, who was photographed with Donald Trump. He declined to comment on any of these.

DAILY DOSE OF STUPID: Photos from COVID-denier Jake Paul’s massive Halloween party surface showing what appears to be over 100 people in his mansion. Tana Mongeau and Olivia Ponton among attendees. COVID cases in US surging to highest levels. Jake recently said COVID isn’t real. pic.twitter.com/TccqHdfi9S

— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) November 26, 2020

When confronted about all of the huge parties at his mansion that he has played host to pretty much consistently since summer, he defended previous comments in which he said he wanted to carry on living his life despite the pandemic: “Yeah, I mean… it’s time for us to open up. Obviously, it’s a controversial subject, but it’s time for our nation to open up and go back to normal.”

The interview pressed only pressed him for further comment, which is when this beautiful interaction followed:

Jake: “COVID cases are at less than one per cent, and I think the disease is a hoax.”
Interviewer: “You think the disease is a hoax? It’s killed about 260,000 people so far this year.”
Jake: “Ugh. Yeah, and so has the flu.”
Interviewer: “No. The flu has only killed a fraction of that, and we also have a vaccine for the flu.”
Jake: “OK.”
Interviewer: “The flu kills between 20,000 and 70,000 people a year. And we have a mass-produced vaccine for it.”
Jake: “Don’t we have a vaccine for COVID?”

Make it make sense – he literally asks the interviewer whether we have a vaccine. After this, the interview pretty quickly breaks down to an argument between the interviewer and Jake, and it’s quite an entertaining read to say the least: “98 per cent of news is fake, so how do we know what’s actually real, and what we’re actually supposed to do? I see people on Twitter complaining and being all upset, and saying this person knows this or that, but no one actually knows what to believe.

“Medical professionals have also said that masks do absolutely nothing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.”

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When confronted on this fact, he called the interviewer arrogant: “Yes they have. Yes they have. You’re arrogant. You’re very arrogant for saying that they haven’t said that.”

It’s amazing that he manages to convince in excess of 10 people to turn up to these pro-Covid parties. When told that he influences a lot of people, probably more than the interviewer by his own admission, classy Jake came out with this quip: “No, definitely more than you do. I’ve never even heard of you.

“That’s what your faniacal [sic] reporter-brain tells you, but you know the truth of that. You know what I’m saying? You’re thriving off of this. Yeah. You love it. You’re having the best day ever right now, because of this interview.”

This kind of rhetoric from someone who has managed to convince millions of people to follow him is clearly dangerous, but it doesn’t look like there’s any changing his mindset even though his brother Logan is showing more and more signs of being progressive.