Mother Jones illustration; Getty
If anti-vaccine influencers had a king, it would be Dr. Joseph Mercola, the osteopathic physician whose supplement empire has netted him a tidy fortune of $100 million. Mercola has been a power broker in alternative medicine circles for years—as my colleague David Corn has reported, he received a publicity boost more than a decade ago from celebrity doctor and erstwhile US Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, who called him a “pioneer in holistic treatments.”
But the Covid pandemic supercharged Mercola’s reputation. In a lengthy 2022 profile, the New York Times called him “the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online.” Mercola topped the internet extremism research firm Center for Countering Digital Hate’s 2021 “Disinformation Dozen” list of the most powerful disseminators of anti-vaccine propaganda.
This week, the supplement industry trade publication Natural Products Insider reported that last week, Mercola suddenly fired four members of his executive team. He also announced that his company would be going in a new direction, reportedly informing his staff in a video that “my new goal is to reach billions, literally billions, around the world with a new paradigm of how to increase joy in their life.”
The details of Mercola’s “new goal” and “new paradigm” are scant, but according to the article, he made the changes in management after extensive consultations with a psychic named Kai Clay, who sometimes goes by the name of Bahlon.
Janet Selvig, Mercola’s sister, was one of the executives who was fired. In an interview with Natural Products Insider, she expressed concern about Bahlon’s influence on her brother:
Selvig said she confronted her brother about the odd behavior on Jan. 31 after seeing hours of videos of his trance channeling sessions with Bahlon. “I just felt immediately that he was being taken advantage of,” Selvig said.
The confrontation did not go well. Selvig said her brother was very dismissive of her concerns and defended his work with Clay. “He thinks the book is going to save the world,” Selvig said. “He believes that he’s [Mercola] a god and he’s been reincarnated. And he even referred to himself as the new Jesus.”
On Feb. 2, Selvig was shown an email sent to a coworker from Mercola’s address announcing the doctor’s intention to fire Selvig, Rye, Boland and a fourth executive. The email offered the CEO spot to a different Mercola team member who later turned down the position. The email went on to explain “reasons for the mutiny,” describing the Catholic church as a “global cabal” that controls “50% of the world’s worth” and “created all the pain that most people experience.”
Mercola’s longtime partner, Erin Elizabeth, an anti-vaccine influencer in her own right, posted a link to the Natural Products Insider piece to her Twitter 165,000 followers Wednesday evening:
This is the hardest post I’ve ever made in 16 years this year, on Twitter or anywhere else. Dr. Mercola’s family is praying for him. I am praying too. We are all praying for Joe and I do not know what the future holds. Happy Valentine’s Day. ❤️❤️😭😭🙏🙏 https://t.co/3MIoSMRWt7
— Erin Elizabeth Health Nut News 🙌 (@unhealthytruth) February 14, 2024
In a reply, a follower asked Erin Elizabeth if she was still with Mercola. “I’ll update soon,” she wrote. “Things are crazy.”
Neither Mercola nor Natural Products Insider responded to a request for comment from Mother Jones.
