ATLAS

Official versionEPSILON-1-17-4Sheet 4 of 5 of the dossier Reptilians

What researchers, polls and fact-checkers say

The scholarly and journalistic assessment: no evidence, a misread poll, video clips explained, and real-world harm.

Summary

Researchers and fact-checkers who have examined the reptilian thesis reach the same conclusion: no evidence supports it. Skeptoid's Brian Dunning writes that virtually any statement Icke makes can be falsified by minimal research, but that in a conspiracy theory any contrary evidence is read as proof of the plot. The clips offered as proof have been traced to editing: Snopes found that a widely shared video of "reptilian eyes" was digital editing, and Lead Stories concluded that a compilation showed ordinary people and video artefacts. The popularity of the idea is often overstated. A 2013 Public Policy Polling survey found that 4% of registered voters said they believed it, but Foreign Policy pointed out that this meant about 50 respondents out of 1,247, hardly the "12 million Americans" of the headlines. Scholars take the theory seriously as a cultural phenomenon: Tyson Lewis and Richard Kahn caution against dismissing Icke as merely fringe. And it is not harmless: investigators found that the perpetrator of a 2020 bombing in Nashville expressed belief in it in writings sent to acquaintances.

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    Investigators found that the perpetrator of the December 2020 Nashville bombing had sent acquaintances writings expressing belief in 9/11 conspiracy theories, moon landing conspiracy theories and the reptilian conspiracy theory.

    • 2020 Nashville bombing, Wikipedia
      included writings in which he expresses belief in 9/11 conspiracy theories, moon landing conspiracy theories, and the reptilian conspiracy theory

Official version

  1. Official version

    A 2013 Public Policy Polling survey indicated that 4% of registered voters (±2.8%) believed in David Icke's ideas.

    • Reptilian conspiracy theory, Wikipedia
      A poll of Americans in 2013 by Public Policy Polling indicated that 4% of registered voters (±2.8%) believed in David Icke's ideas.
  2. Official version

    Foreign Policy noted that the "12 million Americans" headline rested on about 50 respondents out of 1,247 voters, and doubted that even those answers reflected real belief.

  3. Official version

    Skeptoid's Brian Dunning writes that almost any statement by Icke is easily falsified by minimal research, yet within a conspiracy theory any contrary evidence is read as proof of the plot.

    • Support Your Local Reptoid, Skeptoid, 21 May 2007
      Virtually any statement that Icke makes is easily falsified by minimal research if not simple common sense, but since his is a conspiracy theory, any evidence against it is simply regarded as evidence proving the conspiracy.
  4. Official version

    Snopes rated as false the claim that a viral video shows a person with "reptilian" eyes: the clip is digital editing, not evidence of a reptilian race.

  5. Official version

    Lead Stories concluded that a compilation of clips said to show shape-shifters contains video artefacts and ordinary people, not a reptilian life form.

  6. Official version

    The researchers Tyson Lewis and Richard Kahn caution against treating Icke's work as merely fringe, calling it representative of a major global counter-cultural trend.