Speaking with Variety at at the Torino Film Festival, Gilliam flat-out stated, “I’m responsible for QAnon,” in reference to the far-right conspiracy theory group which claims that “President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media,” based on information provided by an anonymous government source named “Q” (not to be confused with James Bond’s tech guy or the Star Trek villain). Also JFK Jr. is secretly alive for some reason.
Gilliam’s statement met skepticism online, which is understandable since Gilliam has made a number of baffling comments to the media in recent years, including his complaint that Trump “fucked up” the anti-woke comedy film he wanted to direct.
However, Gilliam’s QAnon connection isn’t actually as tenuous as it might initially seem. In the interview, Gilliam pointed to the group’s conspiracy theory about “adrenochrome.” According to the QAnon crowd, the world’s shadowy elites “torture children to harvest the chemical adrenochrome from their blood, which they then inject in order to stay healthy and young.”
As Will Sommer, the author of Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America, once told Terry Gross on an episode of NPR’s Fresh Air, this element of the conspiracy theory originated in Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal gonzo journalist fable Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which Gilliam adapted into a feature film in 1998.