More than a dozen Sinclair television stations ran a sponsored gold investment segment featuring far-right podcaster Stew Peters, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who has called for the execution of journalists and politicians.
According to Media Matters for America, 16 Sinclair-affiliated stations ran the two-minute segment between May and September, with it most recently airing this past Thursday on KATV’s Good Morning Arkansas.
It now appears, though, that Sinclair has pulled the segment from its rotation. “We were not aware of the association and are reviewing our internal policies on sponsored content. The segment in question is no longer on our air,” a Sinclair Broadcasting Group spokesperson told Media Matters.
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The segment, which was sponsored by gold investor Goldco, featured Peters and D.C.-based Sinclair meteorologist Brian van de Graff and kicked off with van de Graff boasting about Peters’ credentials. “He’s a former bounty hunter and host of The Stew Peters Show,” van de Graff said. “Stew is also the producer of the film Died Suddenly, which was viewed by over 30 million people worldwide.”
Died Suddenly is a debunked anti-vaccine film that peddles the conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccines are causing deadly blood clots in young healthy individuals, causing them to drop dead. The film proposes this is all part of a plot by “global elites” to depopulate the planet in order to establish a new totalitarian regime. (A previous film by Peters falsely claimed that the coronavirus vaccine is actually a synthetic snake venom.)
After credulously promoting Peters’ anti-vax movie, van de Graff then treats Peters as a financial expert, asking him his “thoughts on the recent bank bailouts and frail financial system.” Peters then tells viewers that “the only answer is to invest in precious metals, physical gold, and physical silver,” adding that they should turn to Goldco. (Notably, Peters previously cited Goldco “for making our Died Suddenly film possible.”)
Since launching his podcast in 2020, Peters has drawn notoriety for his extreme and unhinged views, along with his unabashed racism, homophobia, and antisemitism. Speaking at white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ conference in 2022, for instance, Peters said that “America’s enemy is ‘Satan himself,’ who is ‘flooding our schools with blood libel against white people’ and allowing an ‘Islamic insurgency’ in Minneapolis.”
He’s also regularly advocated for the execution of journalists, politicians, LGBTQ advocates, and anyone who has promoted the COVID-19 vaccines. Just recently, he aired a segment calling for Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to be executed because of Kelce’s endorsement of Pfizer’s shot. “The journos, anchors and hosts that participated should be indicted, tried and fried,” he posted on Telegram in March, fuming about reporters who’d promoted the vaccine.
Sinclair, the second-largest television operator in the United States, has long faced scrutiny for the conservative slant of its programming and news reporting. The broadcaster came under fire during the Trump administration for mandating its local stations to air “must-run” propaganda segments by Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump adviser who was hired by Sinclair as a political commentator. (The company eventually dropped Epshteyn in late 2019.)
