Rumble promotes a baseless anti-trans conspiracy theory video about Michelle Obama among its “editor picks”
Written by Alex Kaplan
Published
Rumble, an extreme right-wing video-sharing platform that has been the official “live-streaming partner” of the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates, listed a video featuring a baseless anti-trans conspiracy theory that former first lady Michelle Obama is secretly a man as one of its “editor picks.”
Rumble’s editor picks section is apparently curated to highlight specific videos available on the platform. On February 12, Media Matters found that a video titled “Michelle Obama is a Man and Biden Solves Obesity | The Conservative Podcast EP 1” was featured in Rumble’s editor picks section. The video could have been among the editor picks since February 9, when it was originally posted.
Citation Screenshot of Rumble's "editor picks" section taken on February 12, 2024
During the video, co-host Shane Ginsberg (known online as “shaneyyricch”) asked co-host Elan Brooks if he thought “Michelle Obama is a man.” In response, Brooks called it “a good question” and referenced the late comedian Joan Rivers, who in 2014 had wrongly claimed that then-President Barack Obama was gay and that Michelle Obama was transgender. In response, Ginsberg seemed to imply Rivers was murdered for the claim — a known far-right conspiracy theory — and seemingly invoked the baseless “Clinton body count” conspiracy theory that former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have murdered numerous supposed enemies.
Citation From the February 9, 2024, edition of The Conservative Podcast, streamed on Rumble
SHANE GINSBERG (CO-HOST): Do you think Michelle Obama is a man?
ELAN BROOKS (CO-HOST): That’s a good question. You know, I don’t really know. I haven’t gotten that close to the subject on that. But I have heard some interesting, you know, information. I did remember seeing a Joan Rivers video from back in the day where she had made an interesting observation on the subject. I don’t know. What do you think about it?
GINSBERG: Well, I’m asking you if you like, honestly, because didn’t Joan Rivers also get, like, dead a few months after that?
BROOKS: I believe she went in for some, you know, to some type of procedure.
GINSBERG: “Procedure” or — an actual procedure or “procedure”?
BROOKS: Well, you know, these days, it — whether it’s, you know, a Hollywood procedure or, you know, just a typical medical, but —
GINSBERG: The Clinton procedure, maybe?
BROOKS: Yeah. I mean, it seems like she didn’t kind of come through on that, which is unfortunate because she was a very funny comedian, you know, really an all-star American.
The February 9 episode was the first of a new podcast formed by CONSERVATIVE, which describes itself as a marketing firm “for ‘red-pilled’ men and women, companies and organizations.” The firm also claims to have created a super PAC called “Conservative PAC,” which aims to “support President Trump for President” and “support America First Candidates.”
For its editor picks, Rumble has previously featured videos that were dedicated to a conspiracy theory that pop star Taylor Swift is a “psyop” and “a fed,” a conspiracy theory about supposed “lizard people” controlling the world, the QAnon conspiracy theory, 9/11 trutherism, and a claim that an August 2023 mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, was a false flag.