Conspiracy theorists are trying to claim that nuclear weapons aren't real

Conspiracy theorist and right-wing comedian Owen Benjamin is now claiming that nuclear bombs do not exist because there is evidence of cameras filming nuclear blasts.

“It’s weird that the nuclear blasts vaporised brick houses but not the old times camera recording it. It’s because nukes are fake.” Benjamin claims. “Hiroshima and Nagasaki never had any fall out radiation. The whole narrative and all the evidence is absurd.”

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Twitter was quick to add context through community notes saying: “the cameras were in bunkers 5 miles away from ground zero with telescopic lenses allowing for the camera’s to record the nuclear explosion.” In regards to Benjamin’s claim regarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they write that they “have no fallout radiation today as the atomic bombs were detonated at an altitude of about 600m.” His tweet has over 10,000 likes.

Benjamin follows up his false claims by saying “there are no nuclear bombs with fallout radiation.” And that the whole world is “in on it”. He adds that people have been “tricked” saying “stop being afraid. It’s fake.”

Most disagreed and pushed back against Benjamin’s claim. One user asked for his explanation for what happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He replied by saying they were “bombed with conventional firebombs” and told another user that it was “just large amounts of TNT.”

Others tried to explain why Benjamin was wrong:

But there were some who defended and agreed with Benjamin:

Benjamin also claims that the video in his tweet is of a toy model, and that those explaining how the camera was filmed from far away and protected are lying.

He replied to a comment from a user saying they “learned something from the community notes”, sarcastically saying, “yeah you can record inside a house from 5 miles away in 1945.”

When asked flat out by a user “are nuclear weapons real?” Benjamin replies: “No. Zero evidence they exist outside of Hollywood movies. Remember hiding under your desk? Looking back does that make sense?”

This isn’t the first time Benjamin has spread conspiracy theories on Twitter, he has previously engaged in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial as well as spreading misinformation about Covid.

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