Snake Oil Salesmen: Who’s Profiting Off The Pandemic?

On this episode of Behind the Bastards, host Robert Evans focuses on the people who have found a way to scam, cheat, and grift their way to major profits during the coronavirus pandemic. Joined by his producer Sophie and The Bechdel Cast host Jamie Loftus, they run down the list of the most egregious offenders, like televangelist Jim Bakker, professionally angry InfoWars personality Alex Jones, various health and wellness influencers including Gwyneth Paltrow, and even our own senators. From silver solutions and toothpaste to survival foods and "wellness balls" to price-gouging and insider trading, there’s nothing these grifters won’t try to make a profit off the pandemic.

Jim Bakker had Sherrill Sellman, a naturopathic doctor, on his show to sell a “Silver Solution” purported to cure the coronavirus, among other products like his “Bakker Buckets,” enormous buckets of food intended to help you get through the apocalypse. “It’s like a dystopian QVC,” Sophie says. Silver does have some antimicrobial properties, Robert says, but its use as a medicine is not recommended by scientists. Alex Jones also discovered the power of the pandemic to boost sales of survival foods and silver toothpaste; his “Health Ranger” on InfoWars, Mike Adams, told their audience at the end of January, “It’s over for humanity as a whole. The masses will be slaughtered.” Prices for survival food products on their website had nearly doubled before he gave that report, going from $1,443 for a year’s supply to almost $3,000. 

The usually-dubious health and wellness industry kicked into high gear as well, with influencers like Michelle Phan touting “antiviral essential oils” and Amanda Chantal Bacon selling “elderberry defense tonics.” Gwyneth Paltrow even got into the game prescribing elderberry chews and Goop “wellness balls” as a way to boost your immune system. But perhaps the worst grifters of all are our own congresspeople: After a briefing on the coronavirus outbreak in China in January, several senators, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, suddenly sold millions of dollars worth of stock in businesses and corporations like hotels and cruise lines. But while they prepared themselves – financially, at least – for the pandemic, they were publicly telling their constituents that everything would be just fine. Listen to this episode for more specious products and “treason-y” actions, and who is profiting from them, on Behind the Bastards.

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