Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter has revealed controversial opinions on topics frequently discussed in conspiracy theories that divide the internet: flat-Earth theory, vaccines, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview on the podcast Tin Foil Hat With Sam Tripoli , the artist stated that he has been studying conspiracy theories since the 1990s, and that when he first encountered flat-Earth theory through a video, he initially found it amusing, but it eventually convinced him and helped him overcome his fear of space. “If you think you live on a spinning, flying space ball, you’re in a cult,” he asserted. “My perspective is: I know we’re not on a spinning, flying space ball. Now, what the Earth actually is, and how deep it all goes, remains to be discovered, and people are working on it.”
Carpenter also expressed his opinions regarding the functionality of vaccines, stating, “There has never been a vaccine that even worked. You can't get these poisons out of the body, there's no way to remove them, they'll stay in your body going forward and you'll suffer from whatever's out there.”
The artist also questioned the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, unimpressed by the thousands of deaths worldwide. "I'm grateful that COVID-19 taught me the true germ theory and that a virus is something the body creates," he added. "You don't catch a virus from someone. You develop a virus because you have some poison or toxin inside you."