Joe Rogan podcast sees ‘Adam and Eve’ conspiracy flood TikTok – but what is it?

Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan - who’s previously made headlines for spreading “racist myths about Jews”, suggesting we should “just shoot” homeless people, and saying it’s not “wise” to take away weapons from gun owners – has now caused TikTok users to create videos about a climate crisis conspiracy theory.

Based upon a bogus book from 1965 by Chan Thomas called The Adam and Eve Story: The History of Cataclysms, the baseless theory pertains to the shifting of Earth’s magnetic poles, and was brought up in an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience on 18 January.

“Researcher” and YouTuber Jimmy Corsetti told Rogan: “The theory on that is that it happens in cycles of 6,500 years and that it’s a 90-degree flip, but six days later, around the seventh day, it corrects itself.

“Because of [the flip] the Earth essentially does a standstill, the sun will be direct – will basically stay in the same spot, causing heating like we’ve never experienced … - so the theory is that when that event happens it’s going to be cataclysmic.”

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Except, it’s a load of nonsense, with Nasa research scientist Martin Mlynczak telling The Verge: “There’s no proof and no science and no physics behind any of the claims about the magnetic field change being associated with climate change.

“[It] is total bogus. If that’s what happened every 6,500 years, we would certainly see it; it would be in all the records.

“The amount of energy to bring that about is tremendous, and you know, there’s nothing to initiate it.”

According to the American non-profit Media Matters, seven TikTok videos between January and April were spotted containing clips from Rogan’s podcast discussing the conspiracy theory, with one video posted just last month clocking up over 14.6m views.

In a statement to The Verge, Corsetti said: “Keep in mind that those various TikTok clips are edited portions of my conversation on the Joe Rogan Podcast where I am explaining the difference between ‘mainstream scientific view’ of pole shifts, in comparison to the Adam and Eve Story - which is certainly not considered accepted science.”

Glad that’s cleared up.

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