#COMET PING PONG FULL#

In July, a Reddit user sparked a viral conspiracy theory with a post about, of all things, cabinets being sold by the online furniture retailer Wayfair. Wait, what does Wayfair have to do with this? And while the theory has spread, it's become less overtly political, morphing to falsely accuse celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Chrissy Teigen, and brands like Wayfair. Obviously, non of that is at all true.īut Pizzagate came roaring back in 2020, when the theory, once associated primarily with older Trump supporters, found a new, younger audience on platforms like TikTok. Many aspects of Pizzagate were eventually folded into the broader QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that Donald Trump is secretly engineering the downfall of the deep state and its cabal of elite pedophiles.

#COMET PING PONG FULL#

View full post on Twitter So why didn't Pizzagate go away? The situation finally boiled over into real violence. The social media posts, texts and phone calls continued to mount. He also got in touch with Twitter, Facebook and Reddit in an effort to remove the posts and stories about the conspiracy theory. Many of those customers, the Times noted, hired lawyers to have the pictures removed.Īs the threats mounted-including one person who showed up at the restaurant to investigate for himself-Alefantis contacted local police as well as the FBI. Photos of customers' children posted online were taken and used in articles as evidence of the child-abuse ring. 'I will kill you personally,' one message read, according to the Times.Īlefantis and his staff of 40 people received threatening phone calls and text messages. The Washington Post // Getty ImagesĪs fake news stories on far-right conservative blogs began to pile up and spread online, the Facebook page and Instagram feed of Comet Ping Pong began filling up with comments to the tune of 'we're on to you.' It quickly spiraled out of control, with threatening messages pouring through. Clinton.' The restaurant's staff and customers have come under frequent assault online because of this nonsense. The Times described Brock as 'a provocative former right-wing journalist who became an outspoken advocate for Mrs. Tony Podesta, brother of John Podesta, frequents the restaurant.Īlefantis was also in a relationship with David Brock, the founder of the website Media Matters for America. Alefantis has prominent friends in the Democratic party. Ĭomet Ping Pong's owner, James Alefantis, is an artist and D.C.-native who was a Clinton supporter but had never met her, according to the Times. It's also played host to concerts by local musicians, including the band Fugazi. in 2006 years ago and, according to The New York Times, is considered a kid-friendly place, with ping-pong tables and craft rooms. In other words, it was meant as a distraction. An actual child-abuse scandal had rocked a foundation connected to the Turkish government, and Erdogan's supporters were asking why people weren't also outraged over Pizzagate. The reason, according to The Daily Dot, is that supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were trying to accuse opponents of hypocrisy. Also, the nation of Turkey is involved in the spread of Pizzagate.Īround mid-November, the BBC explained, a pro-government media outlet in Turkey started tweeting the conspiracy theory using the hashtag #pizzagate.

The alt right is a fringe group of far-right extremists-comprised, mostly, of white supremacists and old-fashioned racists-who share their views and various forms of propaganda online.

According to the BBC, the conspiracy theory linking this very false theory to Comet kicked around 4Chan until someone posted a long document with 'evidence' to a now-banned alt-right section of Reddit several days before the U.S. The conspiracy theory that prominent members of the Democratic Party are somehow involved in a global child-trafficking ring took root on far-right conservative websites. Users of the website 4Chan began speculating about the links between Comet Ping Pong and the Democratic Party, according to the BBC, with one particularly vile connection burbling to the surface: the pizzeria is the headquarters of a child trafficking ring led by Clinton and Podesta. The message discussed Alefantis hosting a possible fundraiser for Clinton.

One of the emails, according to The New York Times, was between Podesta and James Alefantis, the owner of D.C.

It all started in early November 2016, when Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's email was hacked and the messages were published by Wikileaks. The fact that no evidence supports this thoroughly debunked theory hasn't stopped Pizzagate, which first went viral in 2016 before making a resurgence in recent months, from spreading.

Meet QAnon: The Grandaddy of Conspiracy Theories.

Comet ping pong