Pete Evans Speaks Out… On being cancelled, On being proven right, On navigating the future storm

From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 16 No 6 (Dec 2022)

Two years ago, celebrity and former television chef Pete Evans was at the centre of a media storm over his public and vocal opposing viewpoints of establishment narratives. Pete would soon find his social media platforms removed, professional partnerships cancelled, and more.

Through it all, Pete continued to build his Evolve Network vision while keeping a keen eye on what was happening during this period. 

Pete’s scepticism of pandemic measures in the early days of the COVID scare has been proven fully justified in the light of what we have seen unfold. Speaking out, Pete was attacked by mainstream media and ‘cancelled’. However, he is not expecting an apology, nor does he want one.

I recently caught up with Pete to discuss where he has been, his thoughts on this unprecedented time of history, where this is all heading, and most importantly, what the future holds for him. 

ETHAN NASH (EN): Thank you for speaking with me today, Pete. I wanted to begin by picking up where we left off during our last discussion in New Dawn #182 (September-October 2020) to tie a bow on that period. At that time, you faced a media attack and became a victim of ‘thought police’ fact-checking teams on social media platforms. What are your thoughts on being targeted and cancelled?

PETE EVANS (PE): It was really interesting, to be honest with you. I had heard of cancel culture, and I knew some pretty heavy censorship was happening at the start of COVID, where shadow-banning was taking place on multiple platforms. I had already experienced some of these restrictions quite heavily, which was a small taste the last time we spoke. 

What resulted from that saga was the complete removal of my Facebook and Instagram pages without any warning that I could see. I think we had over 1.7 million followers on Facebook. I don’t like to call people ‘followers’, but that’s the terminology they use. We had 300,000 on Instagram. Close to two million people tuning in to hear and see what I was sharing.

When I was permanently deleted, I thought ‘wow, that is a big move’. I also think it happened around the time I had put my hand up to run for a senate position in the upcoming election.

Looking back on it now and seeing what happened, I think that was the real reason I was perhaps de-platformed in such a way. When you look at the Australian landscape and how many people are on social media sites, you can quickly see that large amounts of people could tune in at any moment.

Approximately five to eight per cent of the population were tuned into our pages. When I looked at other news outlets or television platforms on their Facebook, we had more followers – and I thought, ‘wow, this is very interesting…’

There was a quote from Scott Morrison at the time; a journalist had asked him a question. They asked, “what do you think about Pete Evans?” This is what I was told. His response was, “don’t give him any oxygen.” So he just cut the journalist off.

I guess my intention to run for a senate position with Rod Culleton of the Great Australia Party was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak [laughs].

I’ve come to realise – it’s well documented in the United States, for instance – that the government has a direct line to social media companies where they can cancel people, shut them down, or remove them. Donald Trump is a perfect example of this on Twitter. 

I felt like I was in good company after being cancelled by these platforms! [laughs].

Look, my wife and I have come to the realisation that with everything that happens in life, there is a bigger purpose, or it’s meant to be, and the feeling that we both had was – and I want to be careful with my words here – it allowed even greater freedom being away from those platforms. 

Whereas most people may have gone ‘sh*t!’, ‘I’ve lost all marketing material for any business’. Because that’s sort of what social media is for many entrepreneurs – a place to market your business and promote whatever it is you’re selling.

What we were selling was information – and I put my hand on my heart because I truly believe this – information that could add years or decades to many people’s lives. So, I understand why that type of information is being suppressed so heavily.

When you look at the last few years and previous to that, you can perceive the agenda: dumb-down a population and make information about being healthy harder to come by. We saw that through the pandemic. 

On YouTube, for instance, they were censoring alternative solutions that people were sharing about building and keeping a healthy robust immune system. 

Whether that be a form of turmeric, Vitamin C, or Vitamin D. Doctors were also being cancelled for information they shared concerning general pharmaceutical products; Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are two main examples. We can see why that happened.

So, when I was cancelled, we were okay with it. We didn’t go into a victimhood mentality.

We went straight into a mode of finding solutions, and looking back, I wouldn’t change anything.

EN: So, you don’t have any regrets about that period? I say this because the last time we spoke, we detailed your attempts to ‘play the game’, so to speak. Doing what could be perceived as ‘outrageous’ things in the spotlight to get media attention, thus spreading the message further. You subsequently became one of the first ‘martyrs’ of the corona period, per se. Given the power you did hold, is there nothing you would do differently? Would you still be as aggressive with the public tactics? Would you perhaps try to play the ‘safe game’ in any respect?

PE: No, definitely not. I had a chat with someone this week and they detailed how everybody that has stood up and shared their truth seems to have landed on their feet. In fact, many people held their ground and have not been deterred by anything.

Whether it be changing a job because they chose to take an experimental… I won’t use the word medicine… as I don’t believe it’s a medicine. I believe it’s a toxic ingredient for many people.

So many people’s lives have improved; those that stood their ground and not been harassed and bullied in any way. There have been many positive changes and I can see it.

People are thriving in such beautiful ways, and they have told us their stories of what it was like to go through this period – for them to stand their ground. They’re glowing, they’re thriving. 

Some of them say it: It has been very challenging but very rewarding at the same time.

Sometimes, without pressure, we don’t get to see who we are. For a diamond to be created, it must be under pressure for the longest time. The butterfly and its transformation to beauty.

I see these past few years as a time of massive transformation. At the end of the day, people have the power to choose the life they want to live. Some people chose to go along with the crowd mentality, while others decided this is a time to change everything around them. 

It has been a marvellous time, a beautiful time, a miraculous time, a challenging time – a true gift.

EN: Wonderfully said. Well, it seems you did the right thing to disconnect as things started to heat up in Australian society. It was inspiring to see you take that step away. But you have been spotted in the wild recently by news outlets [Pete laughs], now with a ‘wild haircut’ from ‘the depths of obscurity’. It seems you can’t do anything publicly without such attention. I wanted to ask – do you plan to dip your toes back into the mainstream world?

PE: I’ve been asked by mainstream outlets to appear on quite a few of their shows over the past couple of years, so there’s still interest from that realm [laughs]. Nothing as of yet appeals to me. 

I’m grateful for my experiences in that mainstream reality over the last couple of decades. They were choices I made for personal growth; facing my fears of insecurity and putting myself at the centre of attention, so to speak. But it’s an interesting word, ‘mainstream’, isn’t it? 

I feel like the mainstream is definitely evolving and redefining itself, whatever that may be to each person. If you look at mainstream television these days… we haven’t had free-to-air television for a couple of decades on purpose. I still don’t have it.

But, from time to time, I will investigate to see what is going on in that realm. It feels like it is on a little bit of a downward spiral. I say that because ratings seem to be falling for most of these mainstream outlets, whether online news, traditional networks, etc. 

We’re seeing it happen all across the world, so they are going through a transformational period and it will be interesting to see where they end up.

At the start of this pandemic, I did say to quite a few people: This could be a career-defining moment for a journalist or outlet or publication to lead the evolution of new mainstream content. The only one I see ‘bucking the trend’ is [Fox News’] Tucker Carlson, with increased ratings while his competitors are falling substantially.

I’ve noticed that he posts information in complete contrast to his mainstream counterparts, and it’s no surprise to me that this is the result. That should be a good indication this is a period of evolution, and those who understand will reap the benefits. 

But those who continue to stay stuck in the old paradigm of the old program might find themselves out of a job in the future. So it’s exciting times, I reckon. 

When you sit back and watch it, sometimes you need to do so with a long-term vision or a big-picture view. So many people want things to happen [clicks fingers]… very quickly.

But, perhaps just like a good stew or a good curry, sometimes things need time to cook slowly and for all the flavours to melt. If we try to rush these things, we might end up with something quite unpalatable. But if we have patience and trust and we surrender to the time that some things take to evolve, mature, and develop, we can see it like a great recipe coming to life.

EN: A beautiful analogy, and you certainly know a thing or two about a good stew or curry, that’s for sure. [Pete laughs]. You spoke on the decline of the mainstream, and I would say ratings are going down because people are realising they have been lied to over and over again.

You spoke on some of these lies – like vaccine efficacy and lockdown harms. Many of the lies and deceptions are now coming to light. Even the mainstream is forced to admit it some of it now.

I want to get your thoughts on everything that has unfolded. Sitting back from the wings, could you believe Australia ever would get to the point it did over the last two years? And do you think we will ever see an apology come out for Pete Evans and other so-called ‘conspiracy theorists’ any time soon? 

PE: [Laughs] One thing I don’t ever need is an apology, and I never have a desire to be ‘right’ as well. That’s not what I’m seeking, ever. That doesn’t interest me. Why I spoke out so loudly at the start and still continue to do was… hmm… I interviewed this beautiful man, James Lyons Weiler. I asked him why he did what he did. 

He is a remarkable scientist, and he spoke out in the United States. He said, ‘Pete, if there was somebody outside my house – a bully or an adult – attacking a child, and I knew it was happening… there is no way in the world I would sit in my house and pretend it wasn’t. I would go out there and do everything I could to protect that child or put an end to it, even if it meant risking my life to do so’.

That’s why I think so many people spoke out. It wasn’t just the children we were concerned for – it was so much human life that we cared about. As you said, what has come out over the last few years regarding the ‘safe and effective’ injections. We know they are not effective; we know they are not safe for every person – I mentioned that to Liz Hayes when I spoke to 60 Minutes.

Unless you can show me it is 100% safe for every human being, I won’t be putting it into my body, and why would anybody put it into their body if they don’t know the ramifications?

Witnessing now what is coming out – and some of us knew this from day dot – this is an experiment, and an experiment on such a grand scale, on billions of people. This is a study happening right now, and who wants to be a part of a study on an untested, unknown pharmaceutical product? 

It made no sense whatsoever to me and many others, and it still doesn’t.

Why would anyone openly trust the people pushing this onto the public?

Channel 9 had their talking heads go on TV and create a commercial telling Australians to take the shot. Who are these people to tell citizens to take the shot? You have people who are TV presenters, not scientists, with no medical training, with no idea of regenerative health.

Many of them are overweight or obese and quite sick themselves. Who in their right mind would take information from unhealthy, unqualified people? And we see this all over the world. 

Ministers of ‘health’ telling people how to be healthy through an untested pharmaceutical product? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to have concerns and questions and exercise caution, especially when it comes to yourself and especially when it comes to your children.

And the results now speak for themselves.

EN: Do you think we will reach a time when any of these people are held accountable? At the moment, there are calls for a royal commission into the COVID response, legal challenges, etc. Do you think we will ever see a period where responsibility is taken?

PE: Hmm, in this country? I mean those two words… ‘royal commission’, you have to laugh at something like that. The whole notion of royalty is something bewildering to me.

I said at the start of this pandemic that it is a hoax, it is a scam, and royalty has to be one of the biggest hoaxes and scams on the planet! [laughs] So, to have a ‘royal commission’?

As we are witnessing around the world, the judicial system, the ‘institutions’ that uphold the law, are dubious.

To answer your question, I don’t really know. I’m not concerned with that. I feel at this stage of the ‘game’ there is enough information out there for people to make their own minds up.

If and when this happens again, they may be more cautious and not listen to the so-called ‘experts’. So, I don’t know about being held to account.

Perhaps over the next five to ten years we will see similar things happen that previously unfolded in the tobacco industry. Even then, tobacco is a sacred plant demonised like cannabis.

Cigarette manufacturers, over many decades, had to face up to their questionable actions, including putting certain chemicals into their products.

I think accountability will probably take a very long time. Who will they put on the chopping block as a scapegoat for this? I think that will be something to watch play out. I definitely think somebody like Dr Fauci or Bill Gates may come under some scrutiny.

But again, what I see are the positives coming out of this, and that’s people making their own decisions. Having true sovereignty over decisions, having free will, and doing what they like in this world (without harming anyone else, of course).

Apart from that, we can pretty much govern ourselves as much as possible. Complete ownership over each and every action we do in this life, and that is something I have promoted for many years.

If we don’t play the victim, and if we take accountability for our actions, then there’s nobody really to blame. We get this world on our own terms and act from our own decision-making.

Some people find it difficult to take ownership of their actions because they want somebody to tell them what to do, they want someone to look after them.

When you look at modern medicine, that seems to be a substitute for a mother figure. When you look at modern government, that seems to be a substitute for a father figure. Many people I speak with have detailed this ‘mommy medicine and daddy government’ relationship.

If people haven’t worked out their mother and father issues – and I’m going a bit deeper here – but many of the identities or beliefs we adopt come from our mothers and fathers.

A lot of the deep work individuals can do is re-pattern themselves or create new beliefs about who they are, that is away from our prenatal figures and our culture. 

We can cut the tethers and influences in our lives to gain a better understanding of who we are, instead of just a product of Mum, Dad, our lineage, our history, our culture. Because therein lies some great realisations and understandings.

If we’re willing to do the work and discover who we are, we don’t seem to need to rely on external influences in our lives because everything – including accountability – comes from ourselves.

We are our own guru; we have our own answers inside of us. We just need to tap into who we are and ask ourselves ‘who are we?’ often enough, and we will get to the core realisation of everything.

EN: I certainly see your sentiments on the power of transformation and the notion that change will come over time. At the same time, though, it also seems as if the state – in a certain way – is transforming into a different type of beast. For example, people were stalked, beaten, and harassed for exercising their democratic right to protest. Did you catch any of this?

PE: I’m all for people protesting if that’s their journey and that’s what they’d like to do. But protesting and demanding freedom means you don’t have it already. 

That can be very triggering to people, and I don’t mean to trigger people because I’m very grateful there are people out there who chose to stand up and protest – hopefully, that benefited them along their journey. But to beg for, or ask for, or demand freedom – it means you don’t already have it. We absolutely have freedom and have everything we need to be free already.

EN: I want to switch gears and move to the present day – a time in which the events we are speaking of almost seem to have occurred in a different reality – as we now switch in a truly ‘Wag The Dog’ fashion to wartime propaganda and coverage.

I wanted to get your thoughts on the current situation in Ukraine? Specifically, you were labelled a ‘Nazi’ for sharing a cartoon with a Black Sun symbol on it. Yet now the Australian government is financially supporting a country with a nationalist military unit, the Azov Battalion/Regiment, with members running around with the same symbol on their gear. Surely you see the irony in this whole situation, Pete?

PE: Yeah, thanks very much for asking. That was an interesting experience, to say the least. Being labelled a ‘neo-Nazi’, in a word, was ridiculous. That is the only word I can use to describe the media sensationalism that came from that. For the record, I have never been a neo-Nazi, nor does it appeal to me [laughs], nor do I have any interest in it.

And I did state this. I had no idea what being a neo-Nazi meant when I was accused of being a neo-Nazi [laughs]. 

So, I’ll give this subject some oxygen to set the record straight. 

A few weeks prior, I was posting on my Instagram page and I used to put a rainbow and love heart after the text on all my posts. Somebody came to my page and asked, ‘are you gay because you’re using the rainbow sign’? I said, ‘no, I just like rainbows’. I love when a rainbow pops out – one of the most beautiful things in nature.

There was another week where sometimes I would put a butterfly at the end of my posts, I think this was on Facebook. Someone came on and asked, ‘are you a paedophile? Butterflies are a symbol of paedophilia!’ I responded, ‘no, I’m not a paedophile. I like butterflies because they are representative of transformation’.

Fast forward to this incident, and now it is a cartoon of a caterpillar sitting opposite a butterfly or a moth. I had no f**king idea there was a Black Sun on the moth or butterfly, on its wing. What I did see was a trump hat on the caterpillar that said, ‘you’ve changed’, and the thing was ‘we’re meant to’. So, all I saw with that cartoon was transformation. That’s all I saw.

Next thing, somebody wrote on my page there was a Black Sun symbol, and this was a Nazi symbol. In fact, if you do some research, it was originally a Celtic or Viking symbol.

I quickly found this out with a search and wrote this response very quickly at night. I was waiting for somebody to notice it. Now, with everything I’ve explained about the rainbow and the butterfly, I should have explained it a little bit further there – how everyone misinterprets everything I say.

But then, somebody came on and goes, ‘oh, he knew it was a neo-Nazi symbol, so that must mean he is a sympathiser or is associated with them!’ I had no f**king idea, and I’m using that word because it’s ridiculous. So, within 24 hours, it was put across every news outlet that I was a neo-Nazi?! I mean, how the f**k did that happen?! 

Anybody that knows me or knows my work as a chef – and you can read the 20+ cookbooks I’ve done – knows that I celebrate every single culture on the face of the planet. I’m in reverence of every culture and race that has taken ingredients and put them into the culinary arts, into subsistence, into health. 

My last three decades have been spent exploring this wonderful planet and getting to know these wonderful cultures – delving into their heritage and celebrating that. Even in our film, The Magic Pill, we celebrate Indigenous Australians. Their knowledge and wisdom is paramount to a healthy, sustainable immune system. So, for anyone to consider me a neo-Nazi is just beyond belief.

I was subsequently dropped by my 12-15 business partners. They publicly denounced me in the space of 24 to 48 hours without even contacting me to ask my opinion. It was this complete and utter shutdown. Again, it’s just ridiculous that some of these people I worked with for a decade and knew quite intimately personally and professionally would ever consider that to be the case. That’s why none of them actually contacted me because they knew it was nonsense; it was for purely financial reasons that they did what they did – and I understand and accept that.

However, the one thing I will not accept is someone calling me that or believing that.

Turn the calendar six months or a year later and now we have the Ukraine war. This was one of the first things I was alerted to – members of the Azov Battalion openly wearing the same symbol I shared! [laughs] 

It interested me enough that I did a podcast with this beautiful man who has studied symbology and he goes, ‘mate, that Black Sun is a very beautiful, profound symbol, used way before Nazis’. He said it was a very spiritual symbol used by so many people.

It’s interesting this is all coming out now with Ukraine. I don’t know what’s going on over there; it doesn’t make much sense to me what’s happening. But yeah, if there are neo-Nazis over in Ukraine, so be it. You don’t see the mainstream media focus on this, do you?

EN: No mate, they are too busy focusing on the real neo-Nazis like Pete Evans! [both laugh].

PE: I’ve realised that when the media want to ridicule somebody, generally the last thing they use (and will use) is the race card. I’ve seen this happen over and over again. That is the last-hanging fruit for them, even if it’s not true, like in my instance. It doesn’t matter to them because if they can use it in any way, shape or form, they will use it. So, when this happens in the future, question it.

EN: Yes, I think it is a bit unheard of for a neo-Nazi to support native cuisines of cultures worldwide for decades – it doesn’t seem to align with the stereotype [both laugh]. I just wanted to wrap things up by talking about the future. Where do you see things going over the next decade, and what trends do you think will emerge? I know you speak philosophically and spiritually on many things, but do you have any recommendations on how people can ‘navigate the storm’, so to speak?

PE: We have all the solutions we need. We have financial solutions that are emerging. Something like Bitcoin, for example. The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous is the most important book released over the last decade because it has a solution.

Now, whether that manifests as an antidote to the current financial system – as a new way for people to conduct their lives and be financially secure – time will tell.

You know, it’s up to the individual and the collective. Again, free will. We will find that out.

Regarding long-term regenerative health, I believe we have the answers. Getting old does not mean demise in our health, whether emotionally, spiritually, or physically. I actually believe it’s the opposite – as we age, we can become stronger and wiser. We can evolve and remember who we are spiritually and continue cultivating all those aspects of who we are.

Diet plays an important role and is one thing we can investigate and experiment with to see what works. I am a living testament to this, and so many others are.

You asked, ‘what does the future hold for me?’ 2023 involves getting back into the kitchen and sharing more recipes and information for people on long-term regenerative health – and all elements of health. Whether it be belief systems, removing traumas from our lives, or integrating them into a ‘new you’, so to speak. How do we keep evolving? That’s what I want to keep sharing, and that’s what we do with the Evolve Network and Evolve Network TV app and platform.

You know, it was always a dream of mine to start a wellness retreat. We must have had three or four hundred people come through and share their stories with us. We’ve hosted beautiful interviews with doctors across the world; researchers that are looking to find their information.

Telegram is a wonderful platform that so far seems uncensored and without shadow-banning. So many people are tuning in to get information and see what’s happening behind the scenes.

There is always a way through if you embrace the idea of finding the solutions.

I believe the present is bright, I believe the future is bright. 

The storm that you talk about: I think there’s always a storm manifesting and coming through, then there are the sunny days, there’s the rainbow, the rain, the wind, and then there’s the hail, there’s the drought – we have it all.

How do we embrace all of those and not become the victim but celebrate all of the cycles and seasons and fluctuations and the forever-changing nature of our reality? That’s the goal.

How do we see the beauty in all of this?

Nobody can deny there certainly are agendas taking place. The injection rollout is one example of an agenda. Will it be the last? I don’t think so. Will they use that card again? Potentially.

They may incorporate these tactics into a new ‘deadly flu’. Some people I’ve interviewed believe this will be the case because Pfizer is in Phase III trials of an mRNA flu shot.

If you look at timelines and what’s in development, you can anticipate what might be coming down the chute, so to speak.

The climate change agenda seems to be a hot topic as of late. Speaking of royalty, before and now King Charles is the head of that bloodline; his beliefs in that area. I think we should watch that space. 

What will come from that? Perhaps what we have seen over the last few years, with this injection, is more and more information coming to light to shine on or debunk these agendas.

Whether it be weather modification which is happening. Whether it be a natural cyclical process we are going through or a timeline we are going through. Could it be nature plus man-made influence? Time will tell and more information will come out. 

There are already so many scientists calling climate change a hoax. One of my favourite books is State of Fear by Michael Crichton. I highly recommend you check it out. It was written 15+ years ago and is about the global warming agenda.

Again, if people are interested, the best course of action is not so much disconnection but connection to themselves. More connection to mother earth. The more we connect with this amazing planet we co-inhabit, the more we learn from mother nature. 

That’s the best chance we have to navigate any storm, whether natural or man-made. The stronger we are and the more connected we are to nature – and to ourselves – the better chance we have to navigate what is coming with more ease, empathy, grace, compassion, strength, wisdom, surrender, acceptance, trust, and love.

That cannot be a bad thing, in my opinion.

I wish everyone well on the journey of their lifetime.

Just like the saying when you’re sitting in ceremony: ‘Aho, brothers and sisters. Aho!’

‘Journey well’. 

You can find more great content from Pete Evans, including his books, products, initiatives, social platforms, public speaking events and more, by heading to peteevans.com. Check out his documentaries, podcasts, vodcasts and more by heading to evolvenetwork.tv. Check out wellness retreats at evolvesanctuary.com. Pete regularly updates his Telegram channel at t.me/ChefPeteEvans.

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