Liz Crokin

Last updated
Liz Crokin
BornElizabeth M. Crokin
(1979-02-08) February 8, 1979 (age 45)
OccupationColumnist
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Iowa (BA)
Website
lizcrokin.com

Elizabeth M. Crokin (born February 8, 1979) is an American columnist and conspiracy theorist. [1] [2] [3] [4] Since 2017, she has been an outspoken supporter of QAnon conspiracy theories.

Contents

Early life and education

Crokin was born on February 8, 1979. [5] She grew up in Glenview, Illinois, and graduated from New Trier High School. She attended the University of Iowa studying political science and journalism. While there, she was an organizer for Students for Bush, an organization supporting the George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign. She later interned at the U.S. State Department during Bush's first term and for conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly's show The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News. [2]

Career

Crokin began working in 2002 for the Chicago Tribune , before moving to their RedEye daily tabloid writing a column called "Liz in the Loop" (previously "Eye Contact") which covered celebrity news in the Chicago area. In 2010, Crokin moved to Los Angeles and began working as a freelance entertainment reporter for National Enquirer , Star , In Touch Weekly , US Weekly where she focused on celebrity breakups. Crokin returned to Chicago in 2012 to work for lifestyle magazine Splash, a Chicago Sun-Times publication at the time, writing a column called "LA LA Liz". [2]

In September 2012, Crokin developed a viral form of meningitis which progressed into meningoencephalitis and caused daily migraines, vertigo, and photophobia resulting from brain damage. Her health problems resulted in a loss of work, including being laid off in 2013 by American Media Inc., parent company of Star and National Enquirer. Crokin and others had previously accused AMI content officer Dylan Howard of sexual harassment, and has suggested that the layoffs were done in retaliation. [6] [2] Crokin's column in Splash ended in February 2014. [2]

In 2015, Crokin resumed her career as a columnist by writing for Townhall . Though her columns for that magazine focused mostly on sex crimes, in 2016 she published a paper titled Trump Does the Unthinkable, which listed good deeds attributed to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. That column became very popular on social media among Trump supporters. [7]

Also in 2015, Crokin self-published a semi-autobiographical novel, Malice. The book contained a thinly veiled portrayal of her relationship with a man whom she sued for allegedly exposing her to herpes. Crokin's ex-boyfriend countersued her for his fictionalized portrayal in the novel. The matter was partially settled in 2018. [7]

Conspiracy theories

Crokin first became an adherent of the Pizzagate investigation after the release of emails from White House official John Podesta. [7] Crokin continues to believe Pizzagate is true, as of 2020. [8] She then became a follower of QAnon, another conspiracy theory whose wider scope includes that liberals and elites are running worldwide child sex-trafficking rings whom Donald Trump is secretly fighting. [3] The QAnon source making "intel drops" on imageboards 4chan and 8chan, Crokin believed, was Trump himself or Stephen Miller. [9] [10] According to Crokin, she "immediately knew [QAnon] was legit" upon discovering the first "drop". She went on to become one of QAnon's most prominent "influencers". [7]

Crokin shares the QAnon beliefs that the Mueller investigation was a cover for a pedophile investigation and that the cabal of child abusers will ultimately be defeated and its members arrested en masse in an event known as "the Storm". [10] [11] In 2017, future congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene credited Crokin for her discovering QAnon. [7] At the end of December 2017, Crokin claimed on Twitter that photographs posted on Snapchat by Chrissy Teigen, which showed the model with her one-year-old daughter, contained concealed messages suggesting Teigen was connected to Pizzagate. [12] After Twitter removed her verification, Crokin went on to contend that Teigen might be under the CIA's Project MKUltra mind control program (long since scrapped). [13] Other people possibly under MKUltra, according to Crokin, include Harvey Weinstein and Jeff Bezos. [13] She featured in Out of Shadows, a documentary uploaded to YouTube in April 2020. For her, Jeffrey Epstein and the NXIVM scandal demonstrated the continuing validity of Pizzagate. [14]

Crokin was the original source for Roseanne Barr's deleted tweet in March 2018 claiming President Donald Trump had released hundreds of children from bondage each month. Crokin had used fake figures in a 2017 blog post for the conservative Townhall website entitled "Why the MSM Is Ignoring Trump's Sex Trafficking Busts" claiming a "staggering 1,500-plus arrests" of involved individuals in the first 30 days of Trump's presidency. [2] [15] Another thesis she has spread is that John F. Kennedy Jr. did not die in a 1999 plane crash, but faked his death, and is behind QAnon. [11] [16] [17] According to Right Wing Watch , she predicted in March 2018 that the conspiracy theories suggesting "thousands of high-level political, business and entertainment figures are involved in cannibalistic satanic pedophilia" would be proven as true before President Trump leaves office. [18]

In February 2019, Crokin expressed disappointment that Trump had not yet conducted the "mass arrests" of the child sex ring members as promised by Q, and worried that Trump might lose support if he waited too long. She added that she was in favor of citizen's arrests against John Podesta and other people, and warned that people might lose patience and take the street to conduct "vigilante justice". [19]

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, she relayed the #FilmYourHospital hashtag, as an attempt to prove that the pandemic was a "lie" engineered by the "cabal" and China. [7]

Crokin was eventually banned by all mainstream social media platforms for her misinformation campaigns. [7] Her ban from Twitter was lifted on January 6, 2023. [20]

On December 6, 2022, Crokin appeared at a fundraising event hosted by former US President Donald Trump at his house Mar-a-Lago in Florida. [21] [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QAnon</span> American conspiracy theory and political movement

QAnon is a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against president Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many other theories. QAnon has been described as a cult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chrissy Teigen</span> American model and television personality

Christine Diane Teigen is an American model and television personality. She made her professional modeling debut in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2010 and appeared on the 50th-anniversary cover alongside Nina Agdal and Lily Aldridge in 2014. She formerly appeared as a panelist on the syndicated daytime talk show FABLife (2015–2016). She co-hosted the musical competition series Lip Sync Battle (2015–2019) with LL Cool J and was a judge on the comedy competition series Bring the Funny (2019). Teigen has also authored three cookbooks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton body count conspiracy theory</span> Conspiracy theory

The Clinton body count is a conspiracy theory centered around the belief that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have secretly had their political opponents murdered, often made to look like suicides, totaling as many as 50 or more listed victims. The Congressional Record (1994) stated that the compiler of the original list, Linda Thompson, admitted she had 'no direct evidence' of Clinton killing anyone. Indeed, she says the deaths were probably caused by 'people trying to control the president' but refuses to say who they were."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8chan</span> Imageboard website

8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan, is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site has been linked to white supremacism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racism and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings. The site has been known to host child pornography; as a result, it was filtered out from Google Search in 2015. Several of the site's boards played an active role in the Gamergate harassment campaign, encouraging Gamergate affiliates to frequent 8chan after 4chan banned the topic. 8chan is the origin and main center of activity of the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Cernovich</span> American right-wing commentator, lawyer, and conspiracy theorist

Michael Cernovich is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spencer became its public face. Cernovich describes himself as part of the new right and some have described him as part of the alt-lite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pizzagate conspiracy theory</span> Debunked conspiracy theory about alleged child-sex ring

"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner's emails. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Posobiec</span> American conservative commentator and conspiracy theorist

Jack Michael Posobiec III is an American alt-right political activist, television correspondent and presenter, conspiracy theorist, and former United States Navy intelligence officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Loomer</span> American far-right activist (born 1993)

Laura Elizabeth Loomer is an American far-right political activist and internet personality. She was the Republican nominee to represent Florida's 21st congressional district in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections, losing to Democrat Lois Frankel. She also ran in the Republican primary for Florida's 11th congressional district in 2022, narrowly losing to incumbent Daniel Webster. She has been described as espousing anti-Muslim, white nationalist and conspiracy theorist views.

The Richie Allen Show is a UK-based digital radio show and podcast hosted by Irish radio broadcaster and journalist Richie Allen, and broadcast from Salford, Greater Manchester. The show started in September 2014 and currently broadcasts four days a week: Monday to Thursday.

Chanel Rion is an American broadcaster, political cartoonist, and children's book author. She was formerly the chief White House correspondent for One America News Network (OAN), a far-right American cable channel. She is known for promoting conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Seaman (writer)</span> Commentator and conspiracy theorist

David Seaman is a conspiracist primarily known for his promotion of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory both during its initial furor and in subsequent years. Seaman wrote for various publications while styling himself as a 'publicity expert.' By 2012, Seaman had shifted to a political orientation, launching a Libertarian senate campaign and expressing his views on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. In 2016, Seaman was fired from his Huffpost columnist role for promoting conspiracist content, after which he became a major voice in the Pizzagate conspiracy community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Taylor Greene</span> American politician (born 1974)

Marjorie Taylor Greene, sometimes referred to by her initials MTG, is an American far-right politician, businesswoman, and conspiracy theorist who has been the U.S. representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to Congress in 2020 following the retirement of Republican incumbent Tom Graves and was reelected in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Stanton-King</span> American media personality and politician

Angela Stanton-King is an American author, television personality and conservative speaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. She spent two years in prison for conspiracy and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump a decade after serving her sentence. She subsequently became a media personality and was a main cast member on the third season of the BET docuseries From the Bottom Up. She was the Republican candidate for Georgia's 5th congressional district in the 2020 election, losing to Democrat Nikema Williams. Stanton-King has shown support for QAnon, which espouses a number of far-right conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Ashli Babbitt</span> 2021 shooting in the U.S. Capitol Building

On January 6, 2021, Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot during the attack on the United States Capitol. She was part of a crowd of supporters of then U.S. president Donald Trump who breached the United States Capitol building seeking to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Watkins</span> American conspiracy theorist and imageboard administrator

Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun. He has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, and has espoused conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8kun.

TruNews is an American far-right fake news website and channel owned and hosted by Rick Wiles. TruNews frequently publishes conspiracy theories in addition to racist, anti-LGBT, antisemitic, and Islamophobic content. It has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

<i>Q Into the Storm</i> Television series

Q: Into the Storm is an American documentary television miniseries directed and produced by Cullen Hoback. It explores the QAnon conspiracy theory and the people involved with it. It consisted of six episodes and premiered on HBO on March 21, 2021. The series received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its insight into the conspiracy theory, and others finding it to be overlong and lacking in analysis of the impacts of QAnon. Some reviewers have criticized the series for not following best practices outlined by extremism researchers for reporting on extremism and conspiracy theories.

Lauren Elena Witzke is an American far-right political activist known for her anti-LGBT views and promotion of QAnon. Witzke was the Republican nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware, which she lost to incumbent Democrat Chris Coons. She is a former TV show host for TruNews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of incidents involving QAnon</span> Events associated with American far-right conspiracy theory

Since the movement's emergence in 2017, adherents of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory have been involved in a number of controversial events, some of them violent, resulting in the filing of criminal charges and one conviction for terrorism.

References

  1. ↑ "Observer Archives - Liz Crokin". Observer.com. 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Smith, Ryan (April 6, 2018). "Former Chicago gossip columnist Liz Crokin is now a star among far-right conspiracy theorists". Chicago Reader. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Breland, Ali (August 2019). "Why Are Right-Wing Conspiracies so Obsessed With Pedophilia?". Mother Jones . Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  4. ↑ Mike Rothschild (July 23, 2020). "Who is Liz Crokin, America's foremost conspiratorial poster?". Daily Dot . Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  5. ↑ @LizCrokin (February 9, 2023). "Hi @Wikipedia — today is my birthday. I wasn't born in 1977 nor was I born in Winnetka among other things" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ↑ Pearson, Jake; Horwitz, Jeff (December 5, 2017). "Top editor of National Enquirer, Us Weekly accused of sexual misconduct". Chicago Tribune . Associated Press . Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McClatchey, Emma (May 4, 2021). "How UI grad Liz Crokin became one of QAnon's biggest influencers". Little Village. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  8. ↑ Guffey, Robert (September 7, 2020). "Decoding QAnon: From Pizzagate to Kanye to Marina Abramovic, this conspiracy covers everything". Salon. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  9. ↑ Martineau, Paris (January 2, 2018). "How Chrissy Teigen and John Legend Became the Victims of a Horrible New Conspiracy Theory". New York . Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Neiwert, David (January 17, 2018). "Conspiracy meta-theory 'The Storm' pushes the 'alternative' envelope yet again". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Mantyla, Kyle (August 1, 2018). "Liz Crokin: John F. Kennedy Jr. Faked His Death And Is Now QAnon". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  12. ↑ Polus, Sarah (January 1, 2018). "Chrissy Teigen fights back after Twitter user drags her into the false 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Dessem, Matthew (December 31, 2017). "Chrissy Teigen and John Legend Are Not Okay With Pizzagate Conspiracy Theorists Posting Photos of Their Child". Slate. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ Hitt, Tarpley (August 6, 2020). "Inside 'Out of Shadows': The Bonkers Hollywood-Pedophilia 'Documentary' QAnon Loves". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  15. ↑ Weigel, Dave (March 31, 2018). "The conspiracy theory behind a curious Roseanne Barr tweet, explained". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  16. ↑ Stan, Adele M. (August 3, 2018). "The Real Enemy of the People Sits in the Oval Office". The American Prospect. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  17. ↑ Dickson, E.J. (July 3, 2019). "QAnon Followers Think JFK Jr. Is Coming Back on the 4th of July". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  18. ↑ Mantyla, Kyle (March 1, 2020). "Liz Crokin Predicts That Pedogate Conspiracy Theorists Will Be Vindicated Before Trump Leaves Office". Right-Wing Watch. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  19. ↑ Mantyla, Kyle (February 4, 2019). "Liz Crokin Warns of 'Vigilante Justice' if QAnon's Promised Mass Arrests Don't Happen Soon". Right Wing Watch . Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  20. ↑ @Shayan86 (January 6, 2023). "Twitter has tonight reinstated the accounts of former US national security adviser and conspiracy theorist Gen Michael Flynn, banned after the Jan 6 Capitol riot, as well as pizzagate and QAnon influencer Liz Crokin, banned in November 2018" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ↑ "Trump poses with QAnon, Pizzagate conspiracy theorist at Mar-a-Lago". CNN . December 7, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Trump hosts event featuring QAnon, 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theorist at Mar-a-Lago". ABC News . December 7, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.