QAnon Thinks Kirstie Alley Was Murdered Because She Was an Anti-vaxxer

QAnon conspiracists were quick to claim that Cheers actor Kirstie Alley on Monday was possibly murdered because of her outspoken criticism of the COVID-19 vaccines. That, or she was forcibly given one and it killed her.   

Alley’s death was confirmed in a statement from her children True and Lillie Parker that was posted on social media Monday night. “We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” they said. 

But within minutes of Alley’s death being announced, far-right conspiracy groups on platforms like Telegram were spinning up their own narratives, without any evidence, about why or how Alley died.

On the QAnon message board the Great Awakening, members concluded that the sudden nature of Alley’s death was a clear sign that her death was part of a global plot to silence critics of the COVID vaccines. 

“I wholly believe the [deep state] has a way of dosing people with poisons that create aggressive cancers,” one member wrote. Another added: “She either just drew the short straw or she was poisoned by the Deep State for being a public Patriot.”

Anti-vaccine conspiracy channels typically blame a sudden death like Alley’s on the COVID vaccine, with a recent conspiracy film called “Died Suddenly” racking up almost 2 million views on Twitter in just a couple of weeks. But because Alley claimed she never got the vaccine, and spread plenty of conspiracies herself, members of conspiracy groups worked quickly to try and come up with new, and false, theories about Alley’s death.

Alley, a vocal Trump supporter, had spread multiple conspiracy theories on her social media channels in recent years about COVID-19 and vaccines. She tweeted in October last year that until the vaccines “can prevent me from getting COVID or prevent you from getting it.. I won’t be getting it and will ignore mandates to get it.. seems fair to me.” Alley had also previously shared some tweets that indicated support for the QAnon conspiracy movement, notably in October 2020 when she tweeted a popular phrase used by the movement’s followers:

Some conspiracy theorists claimed on extremist message boards, as well as social networks like Truth Social, Gab, and Telegram, that because she had recently joined the cast of The Masked Singer Alley would have been “forced” to get a vaccine against her will. Others speculated, without any evidence, that she would have had to be vaccinated in order to receive treatment for her cancer.

One member of a conspiracy group on Telegram claimed they had called the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, where Alley was being treated to try and find out if patients there needed a COVID vaccine in order to be admitted.

The person got no answer but encouraged others to call the hospital on Tuesday morning to try and get an answer.

“Can't help but wonder if "they" got her in another way,” another member of the group wrote.

These days, the death of celebrities, no matter how minor, spark an instant response from conspiracy groups online who believe that the world is being controlled by some shadow network of operatives rendering every death suspicious. Recent examples have included Queen Elizabeth, Coolio, and Anne Heche. While the deaths of famous people like Elvis, John F. Kennedy and Princess Diana have already prompted conspiracy theories, these have typically taken years to evolve and coalesce into a cohesive community. 

In the case of Alley, this suspicion was given added impetus because of her previous comments in support of various conspiracy theories. 

In QAnon channels on Monday night, followers zeroed in on the fact that the actor was 71 when she died, which in the world of QAnon was seen as a sign because it is a mirror of the number 17—Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet, and very important to the community.

“Smells fishy,” a prominent QAnon group wrote on Telegram. “She’d been asking a lot of questions about official narratives. Funny thing, these fast acting cancers and celebs that don’t fall in line.”

The account also flagged that Alley’s death may have something to do with her membership to the Church of Scientology, of which Alley was a part of since 1979. Once again, no evidence was provided for this claim.