Most people merely brushed off the Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory “Pizzagate” that alleges she’s been running a paedophilic ring of child molesters and sex traffickers as the latest fake news piece to sweep the web. But now it’s becoming more serious news, as one of the few to believe the rumours has opened fire in a Washington DC pizzeria with an assault rifle. The incident fortunately led to no casualties or injuries, but now the so-called “fake news” has become much more real than anyone expected.
There is no evidence to support Pizzagate
Authorities have found no evidence at all to support Pizzagate, and no law enforcement agency is investigating it. There are some believers who disagree that nothing has been proven on the theory that Clinton and her political cronies have been running a child sex organisation out of the basement of a pizzeria in DC. Some versions of the story have the organisation as Satanic.
The shooter was influenced by articles accusing the Clinton team of “Money Laundering, Sex Crimes with Children, Child Exploitation, Pay to Play, Perjury” and alleging that “People are going to prison,” but these articles cite no references whatsoever, not a single human being from whom they’re getting their facts, let alone one who would have reliable, legitimate information.
With no sources, these articles are just the thoughts and opinions of the writer, and they have blown Pizzagate way out of proportion because conspiracy theorists, once they latch onto a wild theory, can’t let things go.
Anthony Weiner’s real case is to blame for spreading the fake case
The Pizzagate conspiracy theory spread when the FBI looked back into Hillary Clinton’s scandalous emails after Anthony Weiner was accused of sharing sexually explicit text messages with a teenager. Pizzagate followers saw this as the Pizzagate case being reopened, despite the fact it was just a case involving similar accusations and a perpetrator linked to those accused in Pizzagate. These emails showed the owner of the accused pizzeria James Alefantis, a huge supporter of Hillary, discussing a fundraiser with her campaign team.
It was nothing more, but of course the conspiracy theorists believe it was something more.
A Reddit user attacked Alefantis, believing the wall decorations in his restaurant to be “Satanic,” and that the fact his restaurant has a perfectly innocent after school kids’ club is definitive evidence of a child molestation ring. Talk about blowing things out of proportion. The theorists also found the leaked Clinton emails to contain many references to pizza, which they have concluded is code for “girl.” They believe cheese is code for “little girl,” and sauce is code for “orgy,” with the Twitter user that proposed this concluding, “We are uncovering a child sex ring.” But this was all just wild speculation by conspiracy theorists.
After the election, the story found its way into mainstream news as Alefantis revealed that he and his staff were “under constant assault.”
Still no evidence whatsoever to support the Pizzagate rumours, but an armed man who believes in the theory decided to take action. The terrorising of the pizzeria staff reached extreme levels as Alefantis’ restaurant was the location of a shooting incident on Sunday. The shooter, Edgar Maddison Welch, burst into Comet Ping Pong pizzeria armed with an assault rifle and headed straight for the back room, where he threatened the staff with his gun and opened fire before the police stormed the place and got him. Welch, now under arrest, claims he was there to “self-investigate” Pizzagate.
Alefantis released a statement after the shooting
In response to the Pizzagate shooting, Alefantis released this statement: “What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences. I hope that those involved in fanning those flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away.”