Del Bigtree | |
|---|---|
 Bigtree in 2024 | |
| Born | Del Matthew Bigtree |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Known for | Anti-vaccination activism |
| Notable work | Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe |
| Website | thehighwire |
Del Matthew Bigtree is an American television and film producer who is the CEO of theanti-vaccination groupInformed Consent Action Network. He produced the filmVaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, based on the discredited[4] opinions ofAndrew Wakefield, and alleges an unsubstantiated connection betweenvaccines and autism. He served as communications director forRobert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 2024 presidential campaign[5][6] and subsequently took a leading role in two groups associated with Kennedy's political career.[7]
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.[13] During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Bigtree propagatedconspiracy theories about the origin of the virus and COVID vaccines, and urged his audience to ignore the advice of health authorities.[18]
Bigtree grew up inBoulder, Colorado, the son of Jack Groverland, a minister at the Unity of Boulder Church. He attended theVancouver Film School and eventually gained employment in the television industry.[10][19]
He briefly worked onDr. 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 showThe Doctors for which he produced 30 episodes over five years, although he has no medical training.[10][20]
It was while he was working onThe Doctors that Bigtree learned ofAndrew Wakefield's opposition to theMMR vaccine and his later-discredited claims that theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hid proof of a link betweenvaccines and autism.[9] Wakefield was looking for help to produce a film based on hisconspiracy theories. Bigtree decided he could assist and left the show to produce, write, and appear in Wakefield's film.[20]
Bigtree produced the filmVaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, based on the discredited[1][2][3] views ofAndrew Wakefield on an alleged connection betweenvaccines and autism. The film debuted in 2016 and was widely panned by critics. TheepidemiologistIan Lipkin wrote that "as a documentary it misrepresents what science knows about autism, undermines public confidence in the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and attacks the integrity of legitimate scientists and public-health officials."[10][21]
However, the film, its promotional bus tour, and funding from theSelz Foundation,[10] 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.[10][22]: 1 [23][24] His anti-vaccine advocacy has been described by medical professionals asfearmongering.[10][25][26]
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 theAnti-Defamation League and theAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum for wearing aStar of David at an anti-vaccination event in an attempt to compare the treatment of those opposed to vaccination to thepersecution of Jews.[27][28][29][30] Often in collaboration with Wakefield andRobert F. Kennedy Jr., Bigtree still lobbies legislators to convince them to keep vaccination exemptions in place.[31]
Bigtree is the chief executive of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), for which he received a salary of $234,000 in 2023.[32] 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 ofThe Highwire attracted 174,000 subscribers.[10][24][33][34][35][8]
InNew York State, in 2019, Bigtree was a keynote speaker at several anti-vaccination events targeting the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn and in Rockland County during a measles epidemic fueled by low vaccination rates.[10][26] Bigtree gave an anti-vaccine speech as headline speaker at a natural health products conference inToronto in 2018, but a repeat performance was canceled in 2019 afterThe Globe and Mail started asking questions.[22]
Like other anti-vaccination advocates, Bigtree adapted several of the more popular anti-vaccination themes to theCOVID-19 pandemic, promoting distrust in expertise, misrepresenting research results, and encouraging the public to let the disease run its course.[36]
He usedThe Highwire webcast to propagate a number of conspiracy theories, such as one postulating that the virus responsible for COVID-19 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 ProfessorDorit Reiss, who studies online COVID-19 disinformation.[37] Going against the advice of health authorities, he advised his viewers to refuse the vaccine when it is developed and to make efforts to actually infect themselves with the virus,[14][17][36] favoring not so much herd immunity as natural selection, with weaker humans dying as the "sick get eaten by the wolves. That's how we've thrived."[36] He accusedAnthony Fauci of leading a cabal of conspirators that wanted to vaccinate the whole world population under false pretenses.[36]
In July 2020,YouTube closed his account and channel for violation of its community standards against pandemic misinformation, andFacebook removed selected videos from Bigtree's account. As of June 2021, Bigtree's showThe Highwire was still being distributed on Twitter.[38] In August 2020, Bigtree announced that his videos were now distributed onRoku media players, despite the company's prohibition against content that is found to include "false, irrelevant or misleading information".[39][40] He also found a receptive audience onRumble, a video-sharing platform that does not have anti-misinformation policies.[37]The Highwire website itself is attracting some one million visitors per month, making it one of the most popular alternative websites.[8]
Bigtree regularly speaks at events protesting vaccination and public health measures against the pandemic.[41][42] In October 2020, he speculated to an audience of anti-vaccination activists that the new COVID vaccines may cause diabetes, lupus, and other autoimmune diseases, although there is no evidence to support those claims.[43] Bigtree spoke at the January 6, 2021, pro-Trump rally preceding theriot at the Capitol. He took this opportunity to attack federal health authorities and to contest the results of the2020 presidential election. Other anti-vaccination activists were also present at this"Stop the Steal" rally, such asTy and Charlene Bollinger.[44][38] He was one of the main speakers at the Defeat the Mandates rally inWashington, D.C., on January 23, 2022, where he said doctors and journalists should be convicted inNuremberg-like trials.[45][46][47][48]
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 ashydroxychloroquine andivermectin, alleging people have been murdered in order to further the agenda of sinister globalist interests.[49]
Bigtree teamed up with Mikki Willis, the producer of thePlandemic conspiracy films, to exclusively stream the thirdPlandemic film onThe Highwire.[50]
Bigtree provided fundraising assistance for theRobert 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 asMikki Willis,Sayer Ji,Charles Eisenstein,Sherri Tenpenny andJoe Mercola.[51][52] 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;[53] by the end of Kennedy's campaign in 2024, that amount had reached $350,000, even though Bigtree still took in a $234,000 paycheck from ICAN in 2023.[32]
In early January 2024, Bigtree replaced Stefanie Spear as communications director for the campaign.[54][55] With Kennedy dropping out of the presidential contest and endorsing Trump in late August 2024, Bigtree ended up leading two new organizations linked to both Trump including the Kennedy: MAHA Alliance, apolitical action committee, and the related nonprofit MAHA Action. "MAHA" refers to the sloganMake America Healthy Again, Kennedy's variation on the Trump campaign'sMake America Great Again.[7]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes[56] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
{{cite journal}}:|last1= has generic name (help)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
