Fox Nation's newest series features actor Isaiah Washington in Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk. Washington is a QAnon supporter who has pushed conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, 5G networks, Black Lives Matter, and many other topics -- including Fox News executives.
To give you a sense of this show, in one of the episodes, Washington makes a “tasty frittata” with former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos while discussing the 2016 election.
Washington, who had a high-profile exit from the ABC show Grey’s Anatomy in 2007 following reports that he used a homophobic slur regarding one of his colleagues, has reemerged in recent years as a Trump supporter. (Washington has said he used the slur in a different context; he later returned to the show amid more controversy.)
He is also a QAnon supporter — and he's linked his show to the conspiracy theory.
His most recent post on Instagram 1) includes a QAnon hashtag, 2) references the disinformation video Plandemic, and 3) features a picture of Washington wearing a shirt mocking the concept of social distancing.
Another post of his shows a fake list of people who supposedly traveled on a private plane with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that's straight from QAnon; the post also include a QAnon hashtag. When Epstein collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell was indicted, Washington responded on Instagram “ThankQ!”
Washington's conspiracy theories are wide-ranging. In a recent post about the pandemic, he complained and said he was canceling his membership when his luxury fitness club announced that it would require members to wear a mask. He has also said that he will wear masks for three months but no longer.
He has also shared a screenshot of an attempted 4chan hoax regarding Black Lives Matter and added the hashtag “Iluminati” in another post attacking the movement.
One post contains a reference to a meme associated with the Three Percenter militia movement; another post shows someone wearing what appears to be a Proud Boys shirt. In another post, Washington said “Thank George Soros and the Cult for your current pain and confusion.”
Some of his conspiracy theories are novel, like in one post where he suggested that China smuggled guns into the United States to arm either antifa or “Iranian backed Mosques.”
Another post suggests that “5G energy” can be combatted with “natural stones” that can be purchased on Instagram. He also shared a video pushing conspiracy theories about 5G wireless technology and shared a link to a fringe site pushing conspiracy theories about 5G and 6G. One 5G conspiracy theory video that Washington shared alleged that “extinction codes” are set. In sharing one conspiracy theory video alleging an artificial intelligence plan to “invade humanity,” Washington declared, “Watch This Or Die. I Said What I Said.”
On May 17, Washington shared an Infowars video featuring Alex Jones which alleges that actor Harry Lennix trained former President Barack Obama.
In April, he shared an interview featuring discredited “Plandemic” conspiracy theorist Judy Mikovits. The video has since been removed for violating YouTube's terms of service.
He also shared another Plandemic-related video, since removed, alleging that Fauci had prevented Mikovits from warning the country about the harm of a potential vaccine.
Washington also shared a YouTube video that alleged that the “Deep State” conspired with China to create the COVID-19 pandemic.
Washington has also shared content that suggested that COVID-19 death count could be fake.
And he called an image memorializing George Floyd's killing by police a false flag and said the Illuminati must be involved in its creation. On July 8, Washington shared an article on Facebook alleging that Floyd's death had been “engineered” by communists and that groups like Black Lives Matter and the Council on American-Islamic Relations were front groups for communists trying to create “tent cities” in order to create “absentee ballot mills to control the vote.” The article was popular on QAnon pages on Facebook, per the CrowdTangle app.
Washington even accused Fox News executives of being “compromised,” saying that's why they haven't supported his show enough:
This isn't Fox's first foray into QAnon territory; the network's morning show, Fox & Friends, has given a platform to QAnon supporters in the past. But giving an entire show to one of these conspiracy theorists is a big step beyond that.
The QAnon conspiracy theory is based on cryptic posts to online message boards from an anonymous user known as “Q" that have spread rampantly on social media and among fringe right-wing media. QAnon conspiracy theorists essentially believe that President Donald Trump is secretly working to take down the purported “deep state,” a supposed cabal of high-ranking officials who they claim are operating pedophile rings.
Media Matters’ Alex Kaplan has documented numerous 2020 congressional candidates who have endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory, and Media Matters has previously chronicled a number of right-wing media figures who have pushed it.
The QAnon conspiracy theory has operated from white nationalist message boards since 2017. It has been linked to multiple violent incidents, including attempted kidnapping and murder. In May 2019, an FBI field office released a memo that listed QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat.
