Bart Sibrel

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Pp-protected Template:Infobox person Bart Winfield Sibrel (born Template:Birth based on age as of date)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is an American conspiracy theorist who has written, produced, and directed films arguing that the Apollo Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were staged by NASA under the control of the CIA.<ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719/> He has created four independent films promoting the ideas, with the first having been the film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon (2001).

In his works, Sibrel films himself asking various Apollo astronauts to put their hand on the Bible and swear that they walked on the Moon. In the case of the Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, whom Sibrel arranged to meet on a false pretense,<ref name="BBCstaff20020921">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.

BackgroundEdit

Sibrel has been a director of TV commercials<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929>Template:Cite news</ref> and is sometimes identified as a maker of "documentaries" with respect to his self-released Moon landing denial films,<ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 placing the word documentary in quotation marks in some of their reports).<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/><ref name=nythess>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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, Neil Armstrong, Alan Bean, Eugene Cernan, and Edgar Mitchell (where Sibrel posed as filmmaker associated with the History Channel).<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/><ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719/><ref name=BBCstaff20020921 />

As of 2002, Sibrel was operating a video production company in Nashville, Tennessee, and had "made a career out of perpetuating the notion that NASA's Apollo moon missions were hoaxes."<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/>Template:Update after

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 deception."<ref name=nythess /> Amanda Hess, writing for The New York Times, alludes to the work as a pseudo-documentary,<ref> For instance, she places the word documentary in quotation marks, and does the same with reference to the "evidence" that Sibrel presents in the work, and refers to Sibrel's preparative work as a "quasi-investigation".</ref> 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 [personal] website called MoonMovie.com."<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/><ref name=nythess /> Sibrel confronted several Apollo astronauts in the preparation of his videos,<ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719/> 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.<ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719/>

During 2019, the Bart Sibrel YouTube channel was demonetized.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Moon landing denialEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In a July 2019 HBO interview,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The shadows appearing in one of the Apollo 11 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 and inconsistent with the existence of only one shadow per object).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="spacecentre">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

All the common Moon landing denial theories, including Sibrel's and others, have been repeatedly debunked.<ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719 />

Aldrin incidentEdit

One confrontational incident involved Apollo 11 crew member Buzz Aldrin. 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."<ref name = AstronautsGoneWild>Template:Cite AV media</ref> Sibrel refers, in post hoc interviews, to two confrontations with Aldrin prior to the one that resulted in his being punched.<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/>

Regarding the subsequent interaction, occurring on September 9, 2002,<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/> the BBC reported that witnesses came forward to the police with jurisdiction, the Beverly Hills Police Department, stating: "Mr Sibrel...lured Mr Aldrin to the hotel under false pretences in order to interview him."<ref name=BBCstaff20020921/> By Aldrin's account, he went to the Beverly Hills hotel on that date under the pretext of an interview on space for a Japanese children's television show.<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/> At the time, Aldrin was aged 72 and Sibrel was aged 37.<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/>

Sibrel attempted on-camera to coerce Aldrin to swear an oath on a Bible that he had been on the Moon.<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/> Witnesses came forward to the police indicating that "Sibrel had aggressively poked Mr Aldrin with the Bible".<ref name=BBCstaff20020921/> When Aldrin refused Sibrel's request, Sibrel followed him, Still being recorded by Sibrel's camera crew, saying: "You're the one who said you walked on the Moon when you didn't."<ref name=AstronautsGoneWild/> Aldrin responded with "Will you get away from me?" — when Sibrel now called him 'a coward, a liar and a thief', Aldrin punched Sibrel in the jaw.<ref name=BBCstaff20020921/><ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>

On the day following the altercation, a statement from a lawyer for Aldrin described the "6-foot-2, 250-pound [1.88 m, 113 kg] Sibrel forc[ing] Aldrin up against a wall and refus[ing] to let him leave", thus making the case for self-defense.<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/> Aldrin made the case to police that he had been attempting to defend "himself and his stepdaughter, who was with him at the time".<ref name=BBCstaff20020921/>

Sibrel gave the tape to the police,<ref name=BBCstaff20020921/> 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: "[Aldrin] has a good punch. It was quick, too. I didn't see it coming."<ref name=StPeteTimesbancroft20020929/>

As described by Eric Spitznagel for Popular Mechanics, since "witnesses testified that Sibrel had provoked [Aldrin], assault charges against the former astronaut were dropped".<ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719/> 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 pretenses, Sibrel's aggressiveness before the punch, and his having declined to seek medical attention and sustaining "no visible injury".<ref name=BBCstaff20020921/><ref name = PopMechspitznagel20190719/>

Conviction for vandalism in parking disputeEdit

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

FilmographyEdit

Regarding the Apollo programEdit

Year	Film	Director	Producer	Writer	Run time (minutes)
2001	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	47
2004	Astronauts Gone Wild: An Investigation Into the Authenticity of the Moon Landings	Template:Yes	Template:Yes		53
	Apollo 11 Monkey Business: False Photography Unedited		Template:Yes		108
	Apollo 11 Post-Flight Press Conference		Template:Yes		83

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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