Some have questioned why the Channel 9 star is giving the ex-My Kitchen Rules judge a platform.
(Instagram/Karl Stefanovic)
Karl Stefanovic has left his audience divided after welcoming Pete Evans onto his podcast.
The Channel 9 star launched The Karl Stefanovic Podcast earlier this year and has interviewed a range of right-wing politicians and well-known Australians, including chef Curtis Stone and shock jock Kyle Sandilands.
But his latest guest has raised a few eyebrows, with some asking Karl why he’s giving a platform to someone like Pete.
The former My Kitchen Rules judge has courted a lot of controversy over the last decade for spreading his ideas on vaccinations, health, and dieting.
He was sensationally axed from I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! as a contestant and dropped by big-name retailers after sharing a symbol widely used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Karl posted several clips of the interview to social media, and the posts were filled with comments criticising him for interviewing Evans.
“He promotes staring at the sun. You’re a moron if you think he’s well-informed,” wrote one person.
“Gross – why on earth are you giving this person airtime?” added another.
“Very disappointed with you, Karl, for interviewing this person. Goodbye,” said a third.
But there were also comments with glowing praise for giving Pete another chance to explain his views.
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What did Karl Stefanovic and Pete Evans discuss?
The hour-long conversation touched on “censorship”, the COVID pandemic, gut health, big pharma, and looking “outside the system” for health and dieting information.
Karl dived into the cancellation that “nearly destroyed [Pete]” and the personal toll of being “publicly attacked” for his views.
“Whether you agree with him or not, this is a raw, uncomfortable and brutally honest discussion about one of the most divisive periods in modern Australian history,” the podcast said.
(Instagram/Karl Stefanovic)
Karl apologised to Pete if he had any role in that public condemnation during 2020 and said history would judge the chef’s character assassination “very poorly”.
Pete thanked Karl for publicly apologising for his stance during COVID, and the Channel 9 star claimed he “got it wrong” in pushing the jab after his second or third vaccination.
“I personally believe I got it wrong. I can’t speak for everyone else out there, but legitimately, I feel that I got it wrong,” Karl said.
Pete even boldly claimed that he first started attracting criticism after selling more than a million of his cookbooks, which he suggested was “unheard of” in the industry.
“When they became super powerful, that’s when the attacks from the mainstream media … And it wasn’t the mainstream media per se. I mean, rival networks would have a dig,” he said.
Yahoo Lifestyle understands that Channel 9 views Karl’s podcast as separate from its own editorial policies and standards, and that the 51-year-old is free to speak about whatever he likes on his own show.
What happened to Pete Evans?
Well before the pandemic erupted, Evans courted controversy for encouraging people to stare into the sun without protection, and his opposition to fluoridation in water.
The celebrity chef and TV star’s Facebook page was removed in late 2020 after he peddled a range of conspiracy theories and misinformation about the virus.
At one point, he encouraged his followers not to get tested, and was selling a $15,000 device called a Biocharger that he claimed could be used against the virus and was “proven to restore strength, stamina, coordination and mental clarity”.
He copped a more than $25,000 fine from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as the device’s claim over COVID had “no apparent foundation”.
Channel 7 parted ways with Evans for My Kitchen Rules one month after this fine.
Pete was fined nearly $80,000 the following year by the TGA for pushing the BioCharger device, hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers, and two oral medicines.
Just before he was booted from social media pages, Evans received widespread condemnation for sharing a photo of a caterpillar and a butterfly talking over a drink.
The butterfly had a “black sun” symbol on its wings, which has been used by far-right groups, including the Christchurch mosque shooter, while the caterpillar wore a Make America Great Again red hat.
The reaction was swift.
Book publisher Pan Macmillan, which had published more than a dozen of Pete’s books, dropped him as a client. His products were also booted out of places such as Coles, Woolworths, Target, Kmart, Big W and Dymocks.
“Sincere apologies to anyone who misinterpreted a previous post of a caterpillar and a butterfly having a chat over a drink and perceived that I was promoting hatred,” Pete said in reaction to the backlash.