Two global sporting legends have shown themselves to be conspiracy theorists after taking part in a so-called “cooker” chat online.
In a short clip shared by Twitter account @KenBerhan, which is devoted to sharing “news and views” about Aussie “cookers” – an Australian slang term for conspiracy theorists – local tennis champ Pat Cash and American surfing great Kelly Slater are seen sharing some of their bizarre opinions, along with four other participants.
The group was taking part in the Hoody’s Athletes with Voices series, and discussed “environmental lockdowns” – or minor restrictions introduced by governments to reduce emissions – and “Smart Cities”, a movement advocating to make urban settings more liveable.
“Initially I assumed both [Cash and Slater] were just anti-vax, but it seems they are both much further down the rabbit hole than that, and majorly cooked!” the caption accompanying the clip on Twitter reads.
And it’s not hard to see why.
The footage begins with Cash griping about emission reduction targets, wildly claiming they were part of a wider “lockdown” conspiracy.
“The environmental lockdowns … are going to be subtle, just like everything else,” Cash begins.
“I live in London, I’m in Melbourne at the moment, but I live in London, and there’s a certain area of a suburb where you cannot drive down for emissions, and people in London will understand this, there’s an emission lockdown.
“There’s been signs for years, low emissions, all this sort of stuff. Now if you go into that area, you drive down that area and you don’t live there, you will get fined … an infringement notice, about 80 pounds so.
“It was never there, it’s there now, they’re starting to implement them bit by bit and that’s how it starts. ‘Oh, we’re looking at the environment in this area to protect the people from the pollution that’s coming out of the cars’.”
Kelly Slater then interjects, saying sarcastically: “Cause wind doesn’t blow? Is that what it is Pat?”, with the rest of the cookers then erupting with mirth at his stunning wit.
“These are the subtle things – so people, be aware of this, so when you go to your council, and they say, ‘oh we’re looking at doing the parking permissions and all this around whatever it happens to be’, be aware that this is how it starts, and it has started already,” Cash concludes.
Another participant then launches into a nonsensical tirade about “15 and 20-minute cities”, which appears to be a reference to a residential urban concept in which most daily needs and services, such as work, shopping, education, health, and leisure, should be located within an easily reachable 15-minute walk or bike ride from any point in the city, which most people would probably agree sounds ideal.
The idea behind the plan is to reduce dependency on cars and to improve healthy and sustainable living, although there has never been any mention of cars being banned, or people forced to remain in their local areas.
However, that didn’t stop one of the ‘cookers’ on the talk from making some truly outlandish claims.
“They’re just out to lock us all down in our little regions, you know, if you live a long way from the beach and you want to catch a wave, tough luck with that, it’s amazing,” he falsely stated.
It comes amid a recent explosion in “cooker” activity in Australia.
At the extreme end, there are sovereign citizens, who believe that they, not judges, juries, law enforcement, or elected officials, should decide which laws to obey and which to ignore.
Sovereign citizens also typically do not believe they should have to pay taxes or fines.
The movement has had a resurgence in Australia in the wake of the pandemic and the lockdowns and restrictions that came along with it, with anti-lockdown and sovereign citizen groups merging together.
In recent weeks, there have been countless cases of unlicensed sovereign citizens clashing with frustrated police officers during routine traffic stops.
