Bill Gates addresses wild ‘reptilian’ conspiracy theory in new Netflix series with humorous response
When it comes to conspiracy theories, there's some pretty wild ones out there.
And the subject of a fair few of them is Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates.
Gates has previously addressed some of the conspiracies about him, including one which claims he used Covid-19 vaccine rollouts to insert microchips into us, saying: "You almost have to laugh."
And, in a new docuseries on Netflix titled What's Next: The Future with Bill Gates, the 68-year-old spoke further about some of these theories, while his daughter Phoebe warned viewers about the dangers of misinformation.
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In one episode, Gates reflected on a number of the bizarre theories that have emerged in recent years.
He said that his great success with Microsoft led him to understand that 'there'd be a range of opinions about him,' but that since turning to philanthropy full-time, things 'really started getting crazy.'
One theory discussed by the father-daughter duo claims that the tech mogul is part of a shapeshifting 'reptilian' race that is attempting to manipulate society by taking on human form.
Some other targets of the conspiracy, popularized by David Icke, include the late Queen Elizabeth II and Justin Bieber.
Reading the 'reptilian' theory, he simply shrugged, remarking: "Someone mentioned this one to me."
As for a scheme to force people to eat bugs to weaken the lower class? "I'd feel bad if I was doing that," Gates responded.
And, regarding a conspiracy that he an ex-wife Melinda French Gates have been replaced by clones, he smiled while joking that Melinda 'is still a real person' and he does 'my best.'
Also speaking in the episode, Larry Cohen, the CEO of Gates Ventures, said that the philanthropist is 'pretty tough-skinned.'
"Some of the stuff is wild, so wild, that it almost makes him laugh. But when you talk to Bill, I think misinformation is incredibly perplexing to him because it’s still not clear how we address the issue."
Bill then asked Phoebe, 22, if she'd ever heard any 'crazy information' about him.
"All the time," she replied.
"I’ve even had friends cut me off because of these vaccine rumors," she added, referring to the previously mentioned microchip theory.
"I don’t know, I need to learn more because I naively still believe that digital communication can be a force to bring us together, to have reasonable debate," he then responded before being informed that online 'it's not really logic and fact that win out.'
"People want an escape, they want to laugh, they want an engaging video, they want to be taken away from boring reality," the recent Stanford University pointed out, a fact the billionaire said was 'just madness.'