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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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Eurovision 2023 takes place in Liverpool tonight and we've got you covered for all the memes that you are going to need. This year's contest is taking place in the UK as last year's winners, Ukraine are unable to host due to the illegal invasion of their country by Russia and the ongoing war between the two nations. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has been prevented from speaking at the grand final but reigning champions Kalush Orchestra believes he would have wanted to. Tymofii Muzychuk, a piper who forms part of the seven-piece, told the PA news agency: “Actually we think that President Zelensky would have wanted to thank all the British people for doing this and, as we can see, Britain took this very responsibly, the UK. And so actually I think it would have been nice for him to talk.” Elsewhere, UK entry Mae Muller has received messages of support from the world of politics, as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said “we’re all cheering you on”. “Good luck to (Mae Muller) a Kentish Town local, at @Eurovision tonight!” Sir Keir tweeted. “We’re all cheering you on.” Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted: “Tonight we’re rooting for our fellow Londoner Mae Muller in the #Eurovision final.” As the tension mounts, here's how the UK is preparing for the night's activities. Yes, that was Kate Middleton in the intro. Piers Morgan is not in the spirit of things. Lots of love for Austria's inspired Edgar Allen Poe song. Not vibing Switzerland. Not quite sure what Serbia was going for. We've seen that France entry somewhere before. Cyprus's entry turned heads for all the right reasons. Sorry Spain, it's a no. The bookies favourite Sweden put on a strong effort especcialy when they looked like something from a movie. Are we feeling the family vibe from Albania? Graham Norton perfectly summed up Italy's song Finland and Estonia could not have been more different. Finland never fails to produce absolute bangers. Czechia? We're all for it just watch the hair. Always gotta consult the meme when Australia pop up. Belgium's hat for the win. Armenia submitted an Ariana Grande knockoff by the looks of it. Moldova, yeah...you do you. Ukraine should probably win again. Additional reporting from PA. 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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