Why do so many people still question whether COVID-19 is real? Coronavirus conspiracies are spreading, on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver did a deep dive into why “…these theories are a lot more popular than you might think.” He pointed out how frustrating it is to encounter people spewing nonsense:

“It is completely natural to simply want to scream at them, ‘Why do you believe this nonsense, you titanic f*king idiot?… What experts say is the most effective way to approach someone is not by shaming them for believing something or overwhelming them with counter-evidence, but to try and be empathetic, meet them where they are, and nudge them to think a bit more critically.”

Oliver also looked into who spreads these suspicious scenarios. He said:

“One of the most prominent spreaders of conspiracies on earth is the current President of the United States. Cause he’s been spreading them around for years, often with the excuse that people are saying them and that he’s just asking questions… He’s been doing this throughout the pandemic, including just this week when he retweeted a theory that the CDC and the media are lying about the virus that hurt his re-election chances. Trump has passed on so many conspiracy theories that news outlets have resorts to calling him the Conspiracy Theorist in Chief.”

Watch Oliver’s segment above and check out the help he got from Alex Trebek to spread the truth about conspiracy theories.