Rumble promotes the flat Earth conspiracy theory among its “editor picks”

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published

Rumble, an extreme right-wing video-sharing platform that served as the official “live-streaming partner” of the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates, included an episode of The Conservative Podcast that is titled “The Earth is Flat and the Epstein Client list is REVEALED!” as one of its “editor picks.” 

During the February 23 video, one of the show’s co-hosts, Elan Brooks, pushed the flat Earth conspiracy theory, which has a track record of pushing its adherents toward other — often antisemitic — conspiracy theories. Media Matters found the video in the editor picks section on February 26.

Rumble Flat Earth editor pick

Screenshot of Rumble's "editor picks" section taken on February 26, 2024

Rumble’s editor picks section is apparently curated to highlight specific videos available on the platform, with Rumble’s own source code describing the section as “the absolute real best of Rumble.com.”

During the video, Shane Ginsburg, co-host of The Conservative Podcast and known online as “shaneyyricch,” asked Brooks, “What’s your craziest conspiracy theory?” 

In response, Brooks said, “Some people are of the mindset that the Earth is actually a flat plane, and not a spinning globe,” an idea he called an “interesting kind of concept.” 

He then promoted the false theory that the Earth is surrounded by an ice wall and made a series of dubious and false claims about explorer Adm. Richard Byrd, who famously led multiple Antarctic expeditions, suggesting Byrd had discovered an ice wall and claiming the explorer promoted the supposed discovery on television before he was thrown in a mental institution and killed. 

Ginsburg also asked Brooks if “you think we have a dome,” and Brooks cited The Simpsons, the Bible, and the late German engineer Wernher von Braun as possible evidence for the conspiracy theory.

From the February 23, 2024, edition of The Conservative Podcast, streamed on Rumble

SHANE GINSBURG (CO-HOST): What’s your craziest conspiracy theory?

ELAN BROOKS (CO-HOST): You know, I would say one of the crazier conspiracy theories I’ve heard out there — and it’s ironic, we’ve got the Atlas Shrugged behind you — but, some people are of the mindset that the Earth is actually a flat plane, and not a spinning globe. So, interesting kind of concept. It actually kind of plays into the Adm. Byrd thing with the ice wall. So Adm. Byrd is the general from the 1940s that went on a discovery into the — what is known as Antarctica. Otherwise known as, you know, a giant block of ice in the middle of the ocean.

And they, you know, for many years, went in, you know, went all around it with a bunch of ships and thousands of infantrymen. Very interesting stories came out of there. He came and did a big television interview after, and was talking about all sorts of interesting things that he experienced. It’s — you should really look into the Adm. Byrd thing. Lots of interesting stuff about extraterrestrials also. But, he says at one point he found a passageway in the big ice wall and actually went into a new territory, into an undiscovered land. 

He also was then institutionalized to a mental asylum after the TV interview, and then, you know, maybe fell from his balcony. It’s hard to say whether he had some assistance in that, but, things didn’t go so well for him after. There was a, like, diary, that I believe his, like, son or grandson, like, published later or was working on getting published. I don’t remember hearing the details on that, but that’s something to definitely look into.

Interesting kind of concept there, you know, because they say, like, a pilot’s map is flat. So they take — they say it's like an orange peel, you know, splayed across flat, and that’s how the pilots read a map. And also, like, the U.N. logo appears to be like a flat logo, kind of like the Gleason map from, you know, several hundred years ago is kind of like a more flatter kind of plane, and they have an ice wall all the way around it. So, that’s a pretty, crazy conspiracy theory that I’ve, I’ve heard.

GINSBURG: You think we have a dome?

BROOKS: Well, The Simpsons Movie talks about a firmament and so does, like, the Bible references it. A lot of — you know, a lot of cultures over history have shown like drawings of like a flat plane with like a firmament above it. Also, it’s interesting that the tombstone of Wernher von Braun, who’s the, you know, father of space travel. It’s actually like a Psalms. I believe it’s like Psalms maybe 19:1 or 19:3. I’m not sure if that’s correct, but I believe it says “the Lord showeth the handiwork with the firmament above.” Very interesting that someone who's the father of space travel and apparently took us to the moon, would be referencing that as something on his tombstone. It seems very contradictory or just, interesting, nonetheless.

GINSBURG: Not a conspiracy at all.

BROOKS: Not at all.

GINSBURG: You might get thrown in the mental institution for saying this.

BROOKS: Yeah. I mean, if I get thrown off a balcony of an institution, then, you know, you know what happened.

GINSBURG: You’re probably just upset. 

BROOKS: Yeah. 

GINSBURG: Yeah.

BROOKS: That’s true. It’s probably just been a hard day.

GINSBURG: Long day. Well, drop a comment. Whatever you guys think is the craziest conspiracy theory. Apparently the Earth is flat.

For its editor picks, Rumble has previously featured videos that were dedicated to conspiracy theories, including another video from The Conservative Podcast that pushed an anti-trans conspiracy theory about former first lady Michelle Obama. Other videos selected as editor picks promoted 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.