Eric Trump is booked as keynote speaker next month at a conference organized by two major purveyors of vaccine disinformation that will feature leading personalities in the anti-vaccine and QAnon conspiracy theory movements, the Daily Beast reported.
Trump is slated to speak at the Truth About Cancer Live convention from Oct. 22 to 24 in Nashville. He confirmed to the Daily Beast that he would speak but rejected the characterization of it as an anti-vaccine event, saying he would speak about his father Donald Trump’s accomplishments as president.
“I am not there to talk about vaccines,” Eric Trump told the news outlet. “I am in Nashville to talk about the accomplishments of the 45th President of the United States.”
“As to labeling something an anti-vaccine event, it wouldn’t make much sense for me to attend as a vaccinated person if it was,” he wrote.
He added that the Trump administration’s push for a coronavirus vaccine could amount to “one of the greatest accomplishments of any president in history.”
His view on the COVID-19 vaccine stands in stark contrast to his hosts, Ty and Charlene Bollinger, who gained prominence by questioning cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The couple launched a docuseries in 2017 called “The Truth About Vaccines” that cast doubt on safe and effective vaccines and have since promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 shots. The Bollingers have called the coronavirus vaccine a “shot of poison” and the “COVID kill shot,” according to the Daily Beast.
The CPI noted that the couple, who sell books, content, supplements and other products associated with their claims, profit from their rhetoric.
“For the Bollingers and a network of similar influencers, speaking out against vaccines, including the coronavirus shots, is not just a personal crusade. It’s also a profitable business,” CPI wrote.
According to the Daily Beast, Trump associate Roger Stone will also speak at the event.