“QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley spoke in a bizarre English accent when BBC Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire confronted him over the January 6 US Capitol riot. Chansley is a former believer and disseminator of the QAnon conspiracy theories and self-described shamanic practitioner. In 2021, he and other Trump supporters descended on the historic building in an attempt to overturn the then-incumbent president’s 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden. His distinct appearance rocketed the far-right conspiracy theorist as a worldwide symbol for the insurrection. A judge later said he “literally spearheaded” the movement into the chamber. On Monday (20 January) he was one of the 1,500 individuals charged with crimes connected to the riot whose convictions were quashed in Donald Trump’s pardons.
