Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has blasted KISS frontman Gene Simmons for his comments on the unvaccinated. Simmons expressed support for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, and compared those who refuse the shot or disbelieve death numbers to those who believe the Earth is a flat disc.

READ MORE: Gene Simmons says “delusional, evil” unvaccinated people are the “enemy”, compares them to flat-Earthers

Simmons’ comments, which he made last week to TalkShopLive, evoked the apparent ire of Jones. Jones has been a pillar of the world of far-right conspiracy theories for around two decades, and most recently his InfoWars network of video productions (once hosted on YouTube, now banned for hate speech and fake news) has railed against COVID-19 restrictions and vaccinations. Jones endorses a swathe of other baseless or disproven theories such as the idea that the US government staged the Sandy Hook mass shooting, the 11 September attacks and the moon landings.

Jones’ views on vaccination predate COVID-19 – he has long been a proponent of the dangerous and unproven theory that vaccines cause autism, alongside a mostly inconsistent smörgåsbord of related theories.

In a video uploaded to the Banned.Video website Jones stated: “I’ve got a very important message for Gene Simmons or, as he’s known, the Demon. You claim that we’re evil because we don’t want you and Big Pharma to literally rape us with your Frankenshot GMO. And then you claim that we’re gonna get you sick and you’re gonna die if we don’t take the shot. I thought the shot protects you. They admit it doesn’t protect you. That was all a lie. In fact, it doesn’t give you a little bit of protection. It actually lowers your immunity. That’s in the real studies.”

It’s important to note here, as is the case with a lot of Jones’ statements, the “real studies” he is talking about are either nonexistent or just as conspiratorial and unproven as his other statements. Medical authorities across the world, not just in the US, report that the rate of hospitalisation, deaths and infection are lower for the vaccinated. Side effects are reported as less of a risk than the alternative: catching COVID-19 without being vaccinated.

Jones’ claim that “they admit it doesn’t protect you” seems to refer to InfoWars’ other videos on the topic, which often cherry-pick medical spokespersons discussing the non-zero risks of being vaccinated, or simply describing the expected behaviour of the shot. Like any vaccine, it can be taxing on the immune system – as it’s putting it to work to create T- and B-lymphocytes. These store instructions on how to attack the coronavirus upon infection.

The above clarification is unlikely to change the mind of Jones, however, as he often frames any reporting on ‘official’ advice as the product of the mainstream media’s vague but nefarious ulterior motives.

“So, I ask the question: are you stupid or are you consciously evil? Either way, it doesn’t matter, because you’re literally out there promoting to the world that I need to be forcibly injected with this garbage,” Jones added. “That is a declaration of war against humanity, Simmons, and you’re on the wrong side of history.”

In a sense, Jones’ response has helped Simmons’ case: Simmons initially compared conspiracies surrounding COVID-19 to the flat Earth belief. Now, one of the most notorious conspiracy theorists in the world has “declared war” on Simmons for his views, lending weight to the idea that those who cast serious doubt on the generally-accepted truths about COVID-19 are also proponents of other nonsensical or dangerous conspiracies.