Right-wing conspiracy theorists rushed to blame COVID-19 vaccination last month after Bronny James, the son of NBA legend LeBron James and incoming basketball player at the University of Southern California, suffered a cardiac arrest while practicing and was briefly hospitalized. Prominent commentators like X owner Elon Musk and Fox personalities like Laura Ingraham and Martha MacCallum baselessly speculated that Bronny James’ injury had been the result of myocarditis, a rare vaccine side effect.

This hypothesis never made sense — and it’s now been refuted by a Saturday statement from his family which stated that the “probable cause” of Bronny James’ collapse was not vaccine-induced myocarditis but rather a congenital heart defect he has had since birth. But the revelation that they were peddling bullshit hasn’t led the perpetrators to reflect or apologize — they have largely just ignored the debunking.

The right-wing media echo chamber, built to create and propagate conspiracy theories while sealing its audience off from contradictory information, has increasingly been scapegoating COVID-19 vaccines for the negative health events of famous people like NFL player Damar Hamlin. Its trolls and propagandists typically portray themselves as bold truth-seekers simply asking the tough questions that the media won’t allow. But the Bronny James saga shows their utter lack of interest in following up when their contentions turn out to be false.

Musk, an early and prominent adopter of the conspiracy theory, explicitly framed his comment in this just-asking-questions manner. “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing,” he posted in response to a report of James’ cardiac arrest, “Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”

There’s been a new and important development regarding a question Musk claimed to find important. But while he is a prolific poster who has found time to comment on his appreciation of Heinz Ketchup and dislike of the “propaganda” of “the New Woke Times,” he has not mentioned the new statement from Bronny James’ family.

Fox treats Musk as a right-wing hero and relentlessly promotes anti-vaccine narratives, so when his initial post triggered backlash, the network came swiftly to his defense. Ingraham, MacCallum, and Jesse Watters all hosted segments that revolved around the notion that Musk had been criticized unfairly for asking an important and unanswered question. But none of them have bothered to follow up and report on the news that Bronny James has a congenital heart defect.

Ingraham’s initial segment provides a perfect case study in how right-wingers treat their conspiracy theories. Addressing Bronny James’ collapse in July, the Fox host and dedicated anti-vaxxer portrayed it as one of the “questions we’re never supposed to ask”: “Why do so many otherwise healthy young men, especially, seem to be collapsing with heart issues?”

“Today, Elon Musk was pilloried for suggesting that the COVID shot might have had something to do with what happened to Bronny,” Ingraham said. “Now, he may be completely wrong. It's speculation. But we do know that myocarditis is a side-effect of the vaccine, and given everything the so-called experts got wrong during COVID, we shouldn't condemn anyone who is asking questions as these cases seem to be accelerating.”

Ingraham was apparently unaware of, uninterested in, or deliberately hiding from her viewers the standard medical explanation: Strenuous physical exertion puts young athletes, particularly men’s basketball players like James, at elevated risk for cardiac arrest. That phenomenon long predates the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines, and there is no evidence of a rise in similar incidents regardless of efforts by right-wing conspiracy theorists to call attention to such injuries, suggest they are happening at an unprecedented rate, and attribute the purported increase to the shots. 

And now that it turns out that Musk was, in fact, “completely wrong,” Ingraham apparently sees no reason to update her audience. She’s “asking questions” — but doesn’t seem to care about the answers.