Courtney Simmonds along with her husband Simmonds are launching a podcast next week.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Courtney Simmonds
October 22, 2022 - 5:55 PM
A Summerland couple is launching a podcast about families affected by outlandish conspiracy theories when their own family went down a QAnon rabbit hole.
Courtney Simmonds is the founder of Porthos Media with her husband John. The pair is launching the Q-Dropped Podcast: Stories of Relationships Torn Apart by QAnon, Oct. 25.
The Q-Dropped Podcast is published bi-weekly, with episodes telling global stories of people who are grappling with the divide between loved ones who have become susceptible to these conspiracy theories.
QAnon is an American political conspiracy theory claiming former president Donald Trump is secretly waging a war against Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.
Simmonds said issues began to arise in her family in 2021 when she and her brother encouraged their parents, who are in their 70s, to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“They kept making excuse after excuse after excuse so we finally were like ‘what’s going on?’ And that’s when we realized they had been sucked into QAnon. Since then, it’s been a roller coaster with them and it’s kind of like they’ve been sucked into a cult and they’re no longer the people we grew up with and it’s been very challenging and very emotional,” she said.
In a quest to help her recover from the divide in her family, she realized this is something families are dealing with worldwide.
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The podcast was a way for her to show other families who have been affected feel like they’re not alone, she said.
“You kind of just have to accept that it’s who they are now,” she said.
They interviewed people from across the globe but hope to speak with people locally in the Okanagan, she said.
The podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, iHeart Radio and Amazon Music.
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