Pete Evans doubles down on controversial claims during chaotic Kyle and Jackie O interview

The ex-TV star gave a chaotic interview on the Kyle and Jackie O Show today, where he doubled down on his controversial claims and was repeatedly censored.

Pete Evans has made a controversial appearance on the Kyle and Jackie O Show today, in a segment which ran for half an hour and saw him censored live on air multiple times.

The ex-TV star, who was effectively “cancelled” during the Covid-19 pandemic for spreading misinformation and sharing a “racist” meme, appeared on KIIS FM’s breakfast show in an attempt to defend himself.

However, during his chat with Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson, Evans’ words were regularly beeped out as he doubled down on many of his claims – especially involving Covid vaccines, masks and social distancing – and flatly denied he was a “white supremacist”.

Once one of Australia’s most beloved restaurateurs, Evans quit his television career in 2020, effectively marking his break from the mainstream after steadily increasing his support for conspiracy theories and non-scientific beliefs.

The chef – who became a household name hosting My Kitchen Rules for 11 years opposite Manu Feildel – had previously raised eyebrows with his controversial health views but emerged as a full-blown coronavirus sceptic in 2020.

The same year, he was slapped with a $25,000 fine by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for selling a $15,000 “BioCharger” device he falsely claimed could fight Covid.

In November 2020, he was swiftly dropped by 15 sponsors and companies after posting a meme featuring a neo-Nazi symbol to his social media.

Pete Evans gave a lengthy interview on the Kyle and Jackie O Show today. Picture: Supplied

The hosts asked listeners whether it was fair that he’d been “cancelled”. Picture: Supplied

Evans defends spruiking $15,000 “Covid-fighting” lamp

Despite his TGA fine, Evans defended his decision to promote the expensive “BioCharger” machine, denying he’d ever said it would “cure Covid”.

When Kyle and Jackie O Show newsreader Brooklyn Ross argued that he’d promoted the fact it had a “setting for Covid”, Evans continued to defend himself, insisting “there was a setting for (censored beep) on the device at the time, along with a thousand different things, for meditation, for helping people sleep …”

But Ross refused to let him off the hook.

“Sorry, can I just pull you up – Pete Evans, you were asked about the lamp and you laughed it off and said, ‘Oh I never said it …’ You were fined $80,000 (sic) because you did get on Instagram and say buy this $15,000 lamp, it’s got a setting for Covid’,” he pressed.

(To clarify: Evans was fined $25,000 by the TGA in 2020, and almost $80,000 the following year for repeated breaches of advertising rules around health products).

“You don’t look back on that and think, ‘I shouldn’t have done that’?”

“No, not at all,” Evans responded defiantly.

“Wow. So you’ve not really learned anything – because that’s what really led to you being cancelled,” Ross responded.

“ … People can’t get out there selling snake oil and saying, ‘Well this is gonna cure cancer’, like Belle Gibson with her book and all that stuff.”

Evans then launched a bizarre defence, claiming that many pharmaceutical drugs are later “pulled off the market” for “misleading claims”.

He also admitted that he “didn’t know” what the Covid setting on the device he was spruiking actually did, as he had “never used it” for that.

“What did that setting do? What was it supposed to do? You were selling this machine, you didn’t know what that setting did?” Ross asked him.

“I wasn’t promoting it as a way to cure Covid,” Evans retorted.

Evans popped up recently on social media sporting a mullet. Picture: Instagram

“Lowest-hanging fruit”: Evans hits back at “Nazi” claim

Elsewhere in the lengthy interview, the former TV chef fiercely denied allegations that he was a white supremacist.

“It seems to be sort of the lowest-hanging fruit these days, where the media attack people for that notion, you know, that somebody’s racist,” Evans said.

He experienced intense backlash in late 2020 after posting a cartoon on social media which featured the neo-Nazi black sun symbol.

“An oldie but a goldie. There are many different interpretations of this image. Peace and love to all always,” he had captioned it.

The symbol, first used by high-ranking Nazi Heinrich Himmler during World War II, has been adopted by neo-Nazi groups in the years since.

Despite denying that he had seen the subtle sun symbol within the image, Evans responded to a comment on his post at the time by a fan who said they recognised it, writing: “I was waiting for someone to see that.”

Evans became a household name alongside Manu Feildel (left) on MKR. Picture: Eugene Hyland

However, speaking to Kyle and Jackie O on Thursday, Evans insisted he “100 per cent had no idea” what the picture had meant.

“I’ve never been associated with anything to do with Neo-Nazism. And if you look at all of the body of work that I’ve done, in the 20 cookbooks [I’ve released], I celebrate every single culture that I know has beautiful food in the world, including Jewish food,” he told the radio hosts.

In October 2020, Evans raised eyebrows after responding to a follower on social media who claimed that “Nazi Germany was infiltrating Australia using stealth and brainwashing”, with Australians needing to “wake up and look at history”.

“You may wish to have another look about the true history about Germany,” Evans told them.

Towards the end of the interview, Kyle addressed the repeated censoring of Evans' comments, which had been delivered in the form of multiple beeps.

“Now, we have a sensor here, people will be able to hear beeping going on. I believe that this isn’t the censor beeping out what she doesn’t believe is right or wrong. This is the censor beeping out what legally we can and cannot put to air,” Kyle pointed out.

Thursday’s lengthy radio interview was the most we’ve heard from Evans in some time.

Since his very public fall from grace, he’s largely stayed out of the spotlight, sharing content only with followers on his alternative platform Telegram – which includes anti-vax commentary, right-wing political sentiments and bitcoin updates.