Comedian turned commentator Russell Brand has weighed in on the ongoing wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, flouting conspiracy theories in his usual fast-paced, flamboyant style which are so outlandish, that he’s being compared to GB News anti-vaxxer Neil Oliver. Brand, who’s switched appearances on comedy films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek for his Stay Free podcast in recent years, uploaded a video to his six million subscriber strong YouTube channel on Thursday with the title, “Something Doesn’t Seem Right”. As the baseless conspiracy theory that the devastating crisis on the US island was not aided by climate change but rather a ‘space laser’ continue to spread online, Brand jumped in and dismissed those rightly questioning such a nonsensical argument. “Now, some people would say, ‘Oh, that’s dangerous misinformation – that should be shut down.’ I think the opposite. “Discuss it, look at it, investigate it. Either it’s true or it’s not true, we can decide for ourselves, let’s not get excited,” he says. We have, Russell – that’s kind of what journalists do for a job… Towards the end of the almost 23-minute-long video, Brand turns to the conspiracy that the fires in Hawaii were “started deliberately to benefit rich elites” such as the investment management company and financial services provider BlackRock. He continues: “Now look at the Ukraine war. Ukraine have already done a deal with BlackRock to rebuild their nation using BlackRock investment. “If you apply that mentality to this situation, if BlackRock end up benefitting from the fires in Hawaii, then the conspiracy is almost a redundant detail. Did they start it? Didn’t they start it? “Is it inevitable that the suffering of ordinary people leads to the benefit of rich elites and massive organisations like BlackRock and billionaires across the globe and why is Bill Gates buying all this agricultural land when he’s not a farmer?” Yes, that’s one whole sentence. “Doesn’t it all feel like a kind of macro-conspiracy that’s so diffuse, institutional, oddly abstracted and bureaucratically opaque, that sometimes you just want to simplify it into ‘they started this fire! They started it with a laser from space!’ “And whether it’s true or not, it not only feels true, in terms of its results it is kind of true. There is a conspiracy to keep you poor and benefit rich elites,” he vented, adding that the “next time there’s a pandemic” the elite are “gonna control you more”. In other news, thesauruses are in short supply around the world. And it’s Brand’s ranting about a shadowy elite and government control during a pandemic which has likely led to social media users on Twitter/X branding Brand (ha) a “frappucino Neil Oliver”, the GB News host who has long peddled conspiracy theories about vaccines and an impending “one-world government”. Back in August 2021 he said he’d happily catch Covid – y’know, an actually deadly virus – “for the sake of freedom”, just so you know the kind of dangerous nonsense we’re dealing with here. Others, however, have pointed out to user Matthew Dimitri – who shared a clip of Brand on X – that Brand was actually making an argument about elites and organisations benefitting from natural disasters like the one in Hawaii, and that Dimitri has “misrepresented” Brand: Except instead of rejecting the laser conspiracy theory outright, remember, Brand said he ‘thinks the opposite’ and that instead we should “discuss it, look at it [and] investigate it”, which isn’t a complete dismissal of the idea. He doesn’t really give a definitive answer on whether the claim is true or not, but rather suggests that the result of the whole ‘is it or isn’t it’ debate is more important, as if it’s part of a broader conspiracy or distraction “to keep you poor and benefit rich elites”. Perhaps a far more compelling argument around all this is that Brand should learn to keep things succinct, for the benefit of everyone... Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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The Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are still discussing the legal points of what the ownership structure of Manchester United would look like after INEOS’ takeover of a 25 percent stake, having agreed on the broad principles of the purchase. The prospective deal has been described by those involved as one of the most complicated in the long recent list of football takeovers, due to the distinctive condition of the minority owner taking full control of the sporting side of the club. It is understood that Ratcliffe’s eventual football staff would not have to run major decisions past the Glazers, as has been the case for the last decade. The main legal terms that have to be settled now are exactly how the separation would work, particularly as INEOS has been insistent on a potential path to majority ownership through equity. That may involve compromise on both sides to get this crucial initial agreement over the line, which has slowed what has already been a glacial structure. The Independent has been told that negotiations on a minority stake have actually been taking place since May, with INEOS quickly realising that the Glazers had no real intention of selling outright. As regards the eventual football structure, there have been tentative private conversations, but Ratcliffe and his staff want to properly survey how the club works when they are in place before making firm decisions. That means any overt influence in January is unlikely, if the deal is even confirmed by then. Former Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards is admired by INEOS, to go with talk of Paul Mitchell and Dougie Freedman. It is uncertain, however, whether Edwards would want to get back into football. Any such appointments would form a group feeding up to Jean-Claude Blanc under Ratcliffe, with input from Sir Dave Brailsford. As regards when confirmation may finally come, those involved are waiting for the green light, since the stock exchange has to be informed within 24 hours. The nature of the discussions so far, however, has taught everyone not to be definitive about timeframes. Read More Manchester United takeover reaches one-year mark with Sir Jim Ratcliffe set to secure stake Manchester United CEO Richard Arnold steps down as Ineos era nears Harry Maguire ‘showing he can do the job’ – Erik ten Hag Rumours: Sancho and Antony head up Man Utd’s 15-player sale list Who are the contenders to replace Stephen Kenny as Republic of Ireland boss? Manchester United handed Luke Shaw fitness boost ahead of Everton match

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