Pete Evans has taken his controversial views to New Zealand, claiming that COVID-19 is a ‘f**king hoax’ and the pandemic ‘doesn’t compare to what is happening in the world on a large scale’.
Appearing on the Well and Good podcast, hosted by The Bachelor NZ stars Art and Matilda Green, the celebrity chef, 47, also vented about having to send his ‘kids to school wearing a f**king mask’.
The reality stars incorrectly introduced the former My Kitchen Rules judge as a ‘very knowledgeable guy’ whose views were ‘taken out of context and sensationalised’.
While Matilda and Art, who met on The Bachelor NZ in 2015, didn’t disclose their personal beliefs, they appeared to be in support of Pete’s views on their podcast, as they dismissed the criticism he has received as a ploy to ‘drag him down’.
The interview has sparked outrage in New Zealand, with listeners blasting Pete’s ‘dangerous’ views on the pandemic, and also sharing their disappointment with the Greens for giving him a platform.
Personal beliefs: Pete Evans, 47, has taken his controversial views to New Zealand, claiming that COVID-19 is a ‘f***ing hoax’ and the pandemic ‘doesn’t compare to what is happening in the world on a large scale’
When asked by Matilda why there hadn’t been much public discussion in New Zealand about the immune system in light of the coronavirus pandemic, Paleo diet enthusiast Pete didn’t hold back.
‘I think it’s a hoax. I think this whole f**king thing is a hoax,’ he said.
‘Not COVID, but this whole pandemic… that we have shut down the world. Do you want your kids to go to school wearing a f**king mask? It’s ridiculous.’
Pete went on to throw his support behind US President Donald Trump’s views on the virus, saying it ‘actually rings true’ to him.
Trump recently claimed that COVID-19 would ‘fade away’ and even urged the administration to scale back testing.
Having his say: Appearing on the Well and Good podcast, hosted by The Bachelor NZ stars Art and Matilda Green (pictured), the celebrity chef also vented about sending ‘kids to school wearing a f**king mask’
Introduction: The reality stars incorrectly introduced the former My Kitchen Rules personality as a ‘very knowledgeable guy’ whose views were ‘taken out of context and sensationalised’
Support: While Matilda and Art didn’t disclose their personal beliefs, they appeared to be in support of Pete’s views on their podcast, as they dismissed the criticism he has received as a ploy to ‘drag him down’
Matilda said: ‘We know a lot about how to put a Band-Aid on so many of these problems but not how to prevent them.’
She went on to offer Pete further support, claiming that his controversial social media posts about coronavirus, vaccines and 5G ‘weren’t at all crazy or unhinged’.
However, their decision to offer Pete a platform didn’t do down well with listeners.
One commented: You should not be giving this dangerous individual a platform that gives him credibility!’
Other comments flowed in, such as: ‘This is so disappointing and dangerous. This kind of “logic” is literally killing people and shows how disconnected you have allowed yourselves to become.’
‘You don’t even challenge him!’ The interview has sparked outrage in New Zealand, with listeners blasting Pete’s ‘dangerous’ views on the pandemic, and also sharing their disappointment with the Greens for giving him a platform
‘It’s a hoax!’ When asked by Matilda why there hadn’t been much public discussion in New Zealand about the immune system in light of the coronavirus pandemic, Paleo diet enthusiast Pete didn’t hold back
Views: Pete went on to throw his support behind US President Donald Trump’s views on the virus, saying it ‘actually rings true’ to him
Another wrote: ‘This is so disgraceful that you would promote someone like this with his crazy views, I’ve enjoyed following you both but it’s time to say see ya.’
A third commented: ‘This is actually irresponsible. You don’t challenge him, or provide a counter view and so I think you’re just trying to hide behind a mistake.’
Matilda defended having Pete on her podcast, telling Stuff: ‘Pete’s been a labelled a crazy conspiracy theorist. I think that’s a really unfair part of society – if he says something you don’t agree with, he’s “crazy”.
‘We knew that having him on the podcast now would be controversial, but we didn’t want that to stop us.’
On Monday, Pete downplayed the seriousness of the virus once again – despite the pandemic killing more than 500,000 people worldwide.
‘Irresponsible!’ Matilda and Art’s decision to offer Pete a platform didn’t do down too well with listeners
‘Didn’t stop us!’ Matilda defended inviting Pete to her podcast, telling Stuff: ‘Pete’s been a labelled a crazy conspiracy theorist. I think that’s a really unfair part of society’
He posted a meme that showed a T-Rex from the film Jurassic Park along with the caption ‘covid according to the media’. This was contrasted with an image of Barney the Dinosaur, which was captioned ‘covid in real life’.
Among his bizarre claims surrounding the virus, Pete has also previously declared he’s immune to COVID-19, and has also blamed the pandemic on 5G.
The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.
About 3.4 per cent of people diagnosed with coronavirus have died, compared to less than one per cent of seasonal flu cases.
There have been more than 7,760 confirmed cases of the virus in Australia, including 104 deaths.
Globally, there are more than 10 million confirmed cases and over 500,000 deaths.
Controversy: Among his bizarre claims surrounding the virus, Pete has also previously declared he’s immune to COVID-19, and has also blamed the pandemic on 5G