In April, Coda Story’s Isobel Cockerell wrote about celebrities like Wiz Khalifa and Amanda Holden, who were pushing conspiracy theories to millions of fans. Since then, several new influential names have joined the roster. 

Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton is the latest celebrity to push conspiracy theories about the coronavirus to his 18.3 million Instagram followers. On Monday, the six times world champion uploaded a video to his Instagram story that referred to a groundless conspiracy theory that has gained massive traction since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, claiming Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was lying about coronavirus vaccine trials. 

The clip, which showed Gates discussing the trials, was captioned “I remember when I told my first lie.”

Hamilton received volumes of backlash for his post. He later released a statement saying he had not noticed the caption on the video, believing he was simply posting footage of Gates speaking. Hamilton said he was still “learning” about getting his social media content right.