Bart Sibrel
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Bart Winfield Sibrel (born ) is an American
conspiracy theorist A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
who has written, produced, and directed works in support of the false belief that the Apollo Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were staged by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
under the control of the CIA. He has written, produced, and directed four independent films promoting the ideas, with the first being the 2001 film '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon''. In his works, Sibrel in part films himself asking that various Apollo astronauts put their hand on the Bible and swear an oath that they walked on the Moon. In the case of the
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
astronaut
Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
, whom Sibrel arranged to meet on a false pretence, outside the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills, the interaction resulted in Aldrin punching Sibrel, which brought him significant publicity. However, no criminal charges were filed against Aldrin.


Background

Sibrel has been a director of
TV commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
and is sometimes identified as a maker of "documentaries" in respect of his self-released Moon landing denial films, though other sources point out the personal distribution, limited release, and style and content call into question placing Sibrel's work in this genre of filmmaking (e.g., with the '' St. Petersburg Times'' and ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' placing the word documentary in quotation marks in some of their reports). This concern relates in part to Sibrel's record of misrepresenting his identity to the subjects he attempts to interview, notably repeated attempts involving former astronauts including
Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
, Neil Armstrong,
Alan Bean Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an astron ...
,
Eugene Cernan Eugene Andrew Cernan (; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh human being t ...
, and Edgar Mitchell (where Sibrel posed as filmmaker associated with the
History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
). As of 2002, Sibrel was operating a video production company in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, and had "made a career out of perpetuating the notion that NASA's Apollo moon missions were hoaxes." Sibrel's single most notable work is a 47-minute video work likewise calling into question the historicity of the Apollo Moon missions; entitled ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon'', Sibrel describes the Apollo program as a "Cold War CIA and
Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
deception." Amanda Hess, writing for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' alludes to the work as a
pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...
, and describes the work in this way: "It mashed up moon footage with ominous shots from the Soviet Union and Vietnam, was narrated by a severe British woman and was sold on a ersonalwebsite called MoonMovie.com." Sibrel confronted several
Apollo astronauts As part of the Apollo program by NASA, 24 astronauts flew 9 missions to the Moon between December 1968 and December 1972. During six successful two-man landing missions, 12 men walked on the lunar surface, six of whom drove Lunar Roving Vehicl ...
in the preparation of his videos, all of whom responded indifferently or negatively when they realized that they were being challenged on their achievement of landing and walking on the Moon. During 2019, the Bart Sibrel
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channel was demonetized.


Moon landing denial

In a July 2019 HBO interview, Sibrel stated the following main reasons that he believed the Apollo missions were a fake: * Apollo's achievement with its 50-year-old technology cannot be reproduced in 2019 by any nation in the world, including the United States (only now is modern technology capable of faking the Moon landings). * The shadows appearing in one of the
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
photographs are not parallel, and therefore must have been taken in a studio with multiple light sources (in fact this is consistent with reflection from the
lunar surface The geology of the Moon (sometimes called selenology, although the latter term can refer more generally to " lunar science") is quite different from that of Earth. The Moon lacks a true atmosphere, which eliminates erosion due to weather. It does ...
and inconsistent with the existence of only one shadow per object). * The Van Allen radiation belt that exists around the Earth does not allow humans to pass through it due to its extreme radiation (the Apollo 11 crew were within the belts for under two hours so would have been exposed to an estimated 18 rads – well within safe limits). All the common Moon landing denial theories, including Sibrel's and others, have been repeatedly debunked.


Aldrin incident

One confrontational incident involved
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
crew member
Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
. Earlier, Sibrel had interviewed Aldrin in a hotel room for his film '' Astronauts Gone Wild''. In that interview, Sibrel confronted Aldrin with purported newly discovered footage from the Apollo 11 mission, to which Aldrin replied, "Well, you’re talking to the wrong guy! Why don’t you talk to the administrator at NASA? We were passengers, we're guys going on a flight." Sibrel refers, in ''post hoc'' interviews, to two confrontations with Aldrin prior to the one that resulted in his being punched. Regarding the subsequent interaction, occurring on September 9, 2002, witnesses came forward to the police with jurisdiction, the Beverly Hills Police Department, stating that "Mr Sibrel... lured Mr Aldrin to the hotel under false pretences in order to interview him." By Aldrin's account, he went to the
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
hotel on that date under the pretext of an interview on space for a Japanese children's television show. At the time, Aldrin was aged 72 and Sibrel was aged 37. Sibrel attempted on-camera to coerce Aldrin to swear an oath on a Bible that he had been on the Moon. Witnesses came forward to the police indicating that "Sibrel had aggressively poked Mr Aldrin with the Bible". When Aldrin refused Sibrel's request, Sibrel followed him, saying: "You're the one who said you walked on the Moon when you didn't". The BBC reported that "Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Ratinoff told
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
... hevideotape shot by a cameraman hired by Mr Sibrel had shown the film-maker follow Mr Aldrin, calling him a 'thief, liar and coward'." Still being recorded by Sibrel's camera crew, Aldrin responded with "Will you get away from me?" and then punched Sibrel in the jaw. On the day following the altercation, a statement from a lawyer for Aldrin described the "6-foot-2, 250-pound Sibrel forc ngAldrin up against a wall and refus ngto let him leave", thus making the case for self-defense. Aldrin made the case to police that he had been attempting to defend "himself and his stepdaughter, who was with him at the time". Sibrel gave the tape to the police, apparently alleging assault. The incident received significant publicity, with many television talk shows airing the clip, usually supporting Aldrin's action. Shortly after the altercation, Sibrel told the '' St. Petersburg Times'', " ldrinhas a good punch. It was quick, too. I didn't see it coming." As described by Eric Spitznagel for ''
Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'', since "witnesses testified that Sibrel had provoked ldrin assault charges against the former astronaut were dropped." Police either did not file or dropped charges based on Aldrin's lack of a prior criminal record, witness accounts of Sibrel's having drawn Aldrin to the hotel under false pretences, Sibrel's aggressiveness before the punch, and his having declined to seek medical attention and sustaining "no visible injury".


Conviction for vandalism in parking dispute

In July 2009, Sibrel, who at the time was working as a Nashville taxicab driver, was charged with vandalism when he jumped up and down on the hood of a car owned by a woman with whom he was having a parking dispute. Court documents show he was arrested after the driver refused to pull out of a parking space he wanted. The arresting officer wrote, "A few moments later the parking space in front of the victim opened up and Sibrel drove into it and parked." Sibrel "then walked up to the victim's car and jumped onto the hood, and then jumped up and down several times." The report says he caused $1,431 worth of damage, after which Sibrel pleaded guilty to vandalism and was placed on probation.


Filmography


Regarding the Apollo program


See also

* Bill Kaysing * Ralph Rene


References


Further reading and viewing

* * A thorough rebuttal of the 2001 re-airing of the Fox TV program, "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?". * * * udio blog featuring the title subject.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sibrel, Bart Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Moon landing conspiracy theorists American conspiracy theorists People from Nashville, Tennessee American documentary filmmakers 20th-century births