Del Bigtree
Del Bigtree | |
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Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe | |
Website | thehighwire |
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Del Matthew Bigtree is an American television and film producer who is the CEO of the
His frequent public speaking engagements and an influx of funding in 2017 have made Bigtree, who has no medical training, one of the most prominent voices in the anti-vaccination movement.[4][5][6][7][8]
During the
Television producer
Bigtree grew up in Boulder, Colorado, the son of Jack Groverland, a minister at the Unity of Boulder Church. He attended the Vancouver Film School and eventually gained employment in the television industry.[6][15]
He briefly worked on Dr. Phil and was credited as a field producer for five episodes. After a gap of two years, he served on the production team of the medical talk show The Doctors for which he produced 30 episodes over five years, although he has no medical training.[6][16]
It was while he was working on The Doctors that Bigtree learned of
Anti-vaccination activism
Bigtree produced the film
However, the film, its promotional bus tour, and funding from the Selz Foundation[6] quickly established Bigtree as an activist in the American anti-vaccination movement. He has since spoken at multiple anti-vaccine events in which he repeats false information about the risks of vaccines and alleges governments are engaged in a vast conspiracy to hide the truth.[6][18]: 1 [19][20] His anti-vaccine advocacy has been described by medical professionals as fearmongering.[6][21][22]
When Bigtree developed an association with Wakefield, several states, including California where Bigtree resided, had begun to consider legislation that would restrict the types of exemptions for which parents could apply to have their unvaccinated children attend schools. Bigtree strongly opposed such bills and has been criticized by the
Bigtree is the chief executive of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), for which he received a salary of $221,000 in 2020. Under his leadership, ICAN promotes the conspiracy theory that government officials collude with the pharmaceutical industry to cover up grievous harms from vaccines. Bigtree hosts a regular stream webcast in which he frequently repeats anti-vaccination messages. The webcast is produced by ICAN and often features Kennedy. Before it was shut down in 2020, the YouTube broadcast of The Highwire attracted 174,000 subscribers.[6][20][28][29][30][4]
In
COVID-19 pandemic
Like other anti-vaccination advocates, Bigtree adapted several of the more popular anti-vaccination themes to the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting distrust in expertise, misrepresenting research results and encouraging the public to let the disease run its course.[31]
He used The Highwire webcast to propagate a number of conspiracy theories, such as one postulating that the virus responsible had been made in a laboratory by the pharmaceutical industry. The weekly webcast quickly became a rallying point for anti-vaccination activists and conspiracy theorists early in the pandemic, according to Professor
Bigtree regularly speaks at events protesting vaccination and public health measures against the pandemic.
By 2023, Bigtree was calling for the imprisonment of public health officials and executives of pharmaceutical companies for favoring vaccination against COVID-19 over the use of ineffective drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, alleging people have been murdered in order to further the agenda of sinister globalist interests.[42]
In July 2020,
Bigtree teamed up with Mikki Willis, the producer of the Plandemic conspiracy films, to exclusively stream the third Plandemic film on The Highwire.[45]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign
Bigtree provided fundraising assistance for the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 2024 presidential campaign in 2023. Among other activities, he participated to an online event bringing together several prominent anti-vaccination activists, such as Mikki Willis, Sayer Ji, Charles Eisenstein, Sherri Tenpenny and Joe Mercola.[46][47] Bigtree is the sole managing member of KFP Consulting LLC, a firm established in May 2023. In July, the Kennedy campaign had paid $13,500 to KFP.[48] In early January 2024, Bigtree replaced Stefanie Spear as communications director for the campaign.[49][50]
Filmography
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes[51] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Partners | Yes | No | No | Video short |
2005 | Bitter Sweet | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV movie. Also appears as an actor. |
2007 | Sex and Sensuality | Yes | No | Yes | Short film |
2007-2008 | Dr. Phil | Yes | No | No | 5 episodes, field producer |
2010-2015 | The Doctors | No | No | Yes | 30 episodes |
2016 | Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe
|
No | Yes | Yes | Anti-vaccination documentary |
See also
References
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