Lacey Evans trends after sharing dumb & bad autism video

Lacey Evans was a hot topic online this morning, and it wasn’t because of her latest WWE repackaging.

Instead, Evans was being criticized for a clip from a Critical Health News video she posted to her Instagram Story. It features Joel D. Wallach, a veterinarian-turned-”naturopathic physician” who has been accused of selling homeopathic remedies in multi-level marketing schemes, discussing autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The video highlights Wallach making the false claim that ASD and ADHD “didn’t exist” when he was a kid (according to the CDC, autism spectrum disorder diagnoses have risen from 1 in 150 children at the turn of the 21st century to 1 in 59 by 2014, but while many potential contributing factors have been identified, researchers don’t yet know exactly what causes ASD).

When fans and members of the media questioned Evans’ posting of the conspiracy theory — which uses a real University of Central Florida study linking food preservatives containing propionic acid (PPA) to possible precursors for autism which the authors admit is “only the first step toward [a] better understanding of [ASD]”, and which many neurodiverse people & their loved ones find offensive and potentially dangerous — Evans initially defended doing so. She quote-tweeted criticism from Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, but later deleted it.

Fans have also noted that Evans liked tweets mocking those who are criticizing her.

Evans has yet to engage in any kind of meaningful dialogue with the people questioning her decision to share the Wallach video, or saying that they’re hurt by her decision to do so. She also hasn’t responded to any of the folks pointing out that she’s participated in promoting processed foods in the past.

WWE hasn’t commented, and probably won’t. It will however be interesting to see how this impacts Evans’ newest push, and the fans reception to it.