What Hillary Clinton Said to the QAnon Conspiracy Theorists from 'Borat'
Hillary Clinton has addressed the QAnon conspiracy that she takes part in Satanic rituals that involve drinking the blood of tortured children. She made the comments during a spin-off show centered around Sacha Baron Cohen's 2020 Borat movie.
In an episode of the six-part documentary series Debunking Borat, released Tuesday on Amazon Prime, the former secretary of state and first lady plays a recorded message for Jim Russell and Jerry Holleman, the two men who featured in last year's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm spreading false claims about the coronavirus and Clinton.
During the film, Russell and Holleman allow Cohen's character to stay at their cabin during the pandemic.
The pair then tell Borat why they think the Democrats and the Clintons are "evil," with Russell adding: "Mostly they torture these kids, it gets their adrenaline flowing in their body, then they take that out of their adrenal glands, and then they drink their blood and that."
The claim is linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory that there is a cabal of high-profile satanic pedophiles who torture and kill children in order harvest adrenochrome from them.
QAnon supporters believe that the genuine chemical produced by the oxidation of adrenaline is some sort of magical elixir that the Satanic pedophiles crave, despite there being no evidence of it having any medical benefits.
Clinton has been heavily associated with this complete falsehood for a number of years, with the suggestion that Democrats are involved in a secret pedophile ring prompting the debunked "Pizzagate" theory that went viral in 2016.
The so-called "frazzledrip" conspiracy theory, which has been spread by QAnon supporters since 2018, also falsely claims there exists a video of Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin torturing and murdering a young girl and drinking her blood, with Clinton wearing the skin of the girl's face as a mask.
The final episode of Debunking Borat shows Clinton condemns the "painfully false" QAnon theories in a message for Russell and Holleman while urging unity across the country.
"I know you've heard a few things about me that you'd like to believe. And I know that you're not alone," Clinton said.
"It's hurtful. I'll be really honest with you. It's hurtful not just to me and my family, but to my friends and other people to know that this is not just false, but sometimes painfully false.
"So just as one American to another, I hope that we can start trying to find some common ground again and overcome all those forces trying to divide us and put us into little boxes apart from each other," Clinton adds.
"Because wouldn't it be great to kind of come together, instead of drift apart? I hope that's possible. Thank you."
The episode ends with Russell turning to Holleman to explain: "I just can't stand her."
Cohen thanked Clinton, as well as Russell and Holleman, for appearing in the new spin-off shows while tweeting out the trailer.
"And thanks for clarifying that you don't drink the blood of children—an ugly lie spread by social media and rooted in antisemitism and misogyny," Cohen wrote.
The QAnon conspiracy theories around the drinking of children's blood is heavily linked to the antisemitic "blood libel" falsehoods that have existed for hundreds of years, claiming that Jews murder Christian children to use their blood for ritual purposes.
During the Borat spin-off episode, which is titled "Hillary Clinton and Blood Libel," Kathryn Olmsted, professor of history at the University of California, explains: "These conspiracy theorists make a leap from the undeniable to the unbelievable.
"People make the leap to the unbelievable because it reinforces their political values. They say 'I've always hated the Clintons, now I know why. It's not only that I dislike them personally, or disagree with their policies, but Hillary Clinton is killing children.'"
Clinton has been contacted for further comment.
