In September 2024, Hurricane Helene struck the southeastern United States as a Category 4 storm, killing almost 250 people, decimating communities, and causing up to $200 billion in damages by one estimate. Millions of hurricane victims expressed fear and frustration as they began the slow and painful recovery process. Simultaneously, misinformation about the Biden-Harris administration’s response to the storm spread across the right-wing media ecosystem in the closing weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign. Now, forecasters warn of a severe 2025 hurricane season as Trump's new administration cuts or defunds key services. 

Media Matters found that popular online shows also pushed right-wing misinformation about hurricane recovery efforts after reviewing episodes from the 10 programs with the largest followings (based on a previous Media Matters study) that were streamed or uploaded in the two weeks between September 27, 2024, when Hurricane Helene made landfall, and October 11, 2024. These shows continue to stream as this year's extreme weather season progresses.

• Five of the top 10 online shows — The Joe Rogan Experience, The Ben Shapiro Show, The Charlie Kirk Show, Stay Free with Russell Brand, and Candace Owens’ Candace — pushed misinformation or false narratives in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
• Fifteen of the 48 episodes these shows posted between September 27 and October 11, 2024, promoted misinformation about hurricane relief. 
• Episodes with misinformation or false narratives had a combined 5.7 million total views on YouTube and Rumble as of June 25, 2025.
• Much of the misinformation repeated by top online shows attacked the Biden administration or mirrored other narratives from right-wing media, including false claims about federal relief available for hurricane victims and attacks on foreign aid and immigrant assistance programs.

In a recent study, Media Matters identified an ecosystem of right-leaning online shows, including supposedly nonpolitical programs, that have repeatedly pushed pro-Trump messaging or right-wing misinformation. Notably, 9 of the 10 online shows with the largest following across platforms were right-leaning. (The only left-leaning show in the top 10 was What Now? with Trevor Noah.) 

For this study, we reviewed all 62 original long-form audio and video content streamed or published by the top 10 online shows in the two weeks between September 27, 2024, when the storm made landfall, and October 11, 2024, for discussion about hurricanes, particularly Helene or Milton (which made landfall in Florida on October 9, 2024), as well as related government response and recovery efforts. While Helene was the focus of the study, our scope did include incidental mentions of Milton because of its timing. 

We found that 5 of the top online shows adopted right-wing media talking points and misinformation about Hurricane Helene: The Joe Rogan Experience, The Ben Shapiro Show, The Charlie Kirk Show, Stay Free with Russell Brand, and Candace. (The top shows we reviewed that did not contain relevant hurricane misinformation during this period were: The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, This Past Weekend with Theo Von, What Now? with Trevor Noah, Full Send Podcast, and The Dr. Phil Podcast.)

Nearly one-third of the episodes these programs posted during the study period — 15 of 48 in total, or 31% — spread misinformation or amplified misleading narratives during the two-week period following Hurricane Helene. As reported in our previous study, these five shows had a combined reach of 121 million total subscribers across streaming platforms (YouTube, Spotify, Rumble, Twitch, and Kick) and social media platforms that are used to amplify and promote these shows (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok): The Joe Rogan Experience (39.9 million), The Ben Shapiro Show (25 million), Stay Free with Russell Brand (22.5 million), The Charlie Kirk Show (18.6 million), and Candace (15 million). 

“Your government hates you,” Charlie Kirk told listeners. “Your government despises you. They don't care about what you believe. They don't care about your worldview. If you're drowning, it's irrelevant to them.” 

According to Kirk, the fact that “all the outskirts of western North Carolina are some of the reddest parts of the country” proved that “the more conservative that you are, like East Palestine, the more Trump you are, your federal government just doesn't care about you.” Kirk later claimed that “Democrats don’t care — they hope that everyone there is disenfranchised” because “this could flip North Carolina, by the way, to a blue state. Maybe that’s why they’re doing this.” 

“They wonder why Trump is so popular,” Kirk said. “They wonder why our movement is ascendant. This is an elementary breakdown of why government exists. Government exists first and foremost to serve its citizens.” 

Ben Shapiro spoke with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on October 8, 2024, who proceeded to attack the Biden administration’s disaster relief efforts and tout his own campaign. 

“I'm leading in all of the swing states,” Trump said. “The incompetence of what they're doing with the hurricane and we have another coming. I mean I think Ron's going to do a very good job and maybe save them but they're not going to do anything, they're just incompetent.”

Shapiro also used the storm to attack Harris’ campaign, claiming that Trump’s presence “on the ground in Valdosta, Georgia, … was making Kamala and Joe very upset, so they had to stage some photo ops” in order “to pretend that she actually does something for a living, and then she ran away.” 

On Candace, host Candace Owens read from a viewer’s email asking, “Have you heard anything about people committing suicide in the hurricane-struck areas that Kamala and Biden have completely neglected? She is evil and it starts from her hidden roots.” 

Owens responded by claiming she had received other “emails from people that are in the military saying that they were supposed to go around and help in the hurricane — now they’re being sent overseas to the Middle East.”

“That’s your tax dollars at work,” she told her audience. “Americans are suffering — nothing. Sorry, feel the hurricane, the flood. We’ve got to go defend the borders and the people of foreign nations.” Owens concluded that “our politicians have completely sold us out. They lie to us about everything.”

By leaving out important context about how the government appropriates funding for disaster relief and the process for states to receive federal aid, these programs deceptively painted a vivid picture of government leaders who were deprioritizing America and could not be trusted. 

In the storm’s aftermath, right-wing media worked overtime to mislead viewers about how hurricane relief money was being distributed, suggesting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was giving money to migrants or allocating funding for foreign aid that was supposed to go to hurricane victims, who were supposedly being deliberately ignored because the damage occurred in largely white, right-leaning areas. 

Discussions on top online shows largely mimicked the misinformation being pushed by the right, repeating inaccurate claims about the hurricane’s cause and jumping to extreme and unsupported conclusions about recovery efforts.

Fact: Federal assistance includes substantial aid beyond the initial $750 payment
 

As the federal response began to unfold following the storm, Fox News amplified false claims that hurricane victims were eligible for only $750 in aid for all damages. In reality, this amount was just the beginning of available assistance. 

The White House confirmed at the time that emergency aid “can include a one-time $750 payment to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula and other emergency supplies. After registering for disaster assistance, individuals may also qualify to receive disaster-related financial assistance to repair storm-related damage to homes and replace personal property, as well as assistance to find a temporary place to stay.” But online shows spread the same misinformation:

• Discussing the aftermath of Helene, Joe Rogan suggested hurricane victims would receive a “one-time fee of $700” and nothing else and claimed victims of the 2023 fires in Hawaii also received that amount. Rogan called the payment “more insulting than giving them no money.” According to FEMA, the $700 per household payment was intended “to address immediate needs such as food, water and clothing” and was “just one of several types of federal assistance” available to survivors following the 2023 Hawaiian wildfires. [The Joe Rogan Experience, 10/1/24; FEMA, 8/18/23]
   
• Right-wing influencer Russell Brand said, “How do you end up with $750 handouts to the victims of Hurricane Helene while $2.4 billion is afforded in expenditure for war? Well, because you can see what master is being served. Mammon, war, fire, the four horsemen maraud while true values are neglected and forgotten.” In the next episode, Brand repeatedly suggested that hurricane victims would be receiving only $750 in aid. [Stay Free With Russell Brand, 10/3/24, 10/3/24]
   
• Ben Shapiro lashed out when Biden responded to right-wing misinformation about the $750 aid payment, calling it “a lie” and “un-American.” Shapiro avoided addressing the false claim and instead said, “I don't want to hear about people calling each other un-American from this guy who stood in front of Independence Hall and suggested that all of his political opponents were dire threats to the exact fabric of the United States.” The host later attacked Biden for urging Congress to reconvene to approve supplemental aid, claiming that he “doesn’t actually need it.” [The Ben Shapiro Show, 10/11/24]
   

Fact: FEMA’s disaster relief program is separate from its immigrant assistance programs
 

On the campaign trail last October, Trump said, “The Harris-Biden administration says they don’t have any money” for hurricane relief. “They spent it all on illegal migrants,” he claimed. “They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson categorically denied the accusation that the money was spent on “illegal migrants” instead of hurricane victims. “These claims are completely false,” they said, clarifying that the Shelter and Services Program, which provides assistance to migrants, “is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA's disaster-related authorities or funding streams.” But the same misinformation was repeated online by The Charlie Kirk Show.

• Charlie Kirk claimed, “Your federal government is forsaking American citizens that are literally drowning in North Carolina and prioritizing foreigners that are breaking into the country.” He added, “The foreigners that are coming up right now through the Darien Gap, that's them. That's where your money is going. Your emergency management taxpayer money is not going to help your fellow countrymen. It's going to help people that are breaking into the nation.” [The Charlie Kirk Show, 10/3/24]
   

Fact: There is no evidence to suggest that disaster aid was distributed based on race
 

In 2022, a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris discussing Florida relief efforts in response to Hurricane Ian caught the attention of right-wing media and GOP figures, who accused her of planning to allocate resources based on race. The clip was from an interview with actress Priyanka Chopra, who asked the vice president about relief efforts and what the Biden administration was doing to combat climate change, specifically given that people in the poorest countries are most affected by the climate crisis. 

Harris responded that “we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity; understanding that not everyone starts out at the same place. And if we want people to be in an equal place, sometimes we have to take into account those disparities and do that work.” At the time, The Associated Press assessed the claim that Harris planned to distribute aid based on race as “false” — but it still reappeared during top online shows’ coverage of Hurricane Helene.

• Ben Shapiro blamed Harris and the Biden administration’s supposed “mismanagement” on FEMA pursuing “disaster equity,” which he called “racist, and against the Civil Rights Act.” Shapiro bashed FEMA employees for holding a webinar where they discussed helping communities with preexisting vulnerabilities after a disaster and blamed Harris for failing to “fire all these schmucks” in favor of “people who actually know how to, you know, handle a disaster. How about that? Shouldn’t that be a scandal? Where’s Kamala there?” [The Ben Shapiro Show, 10/8/24]
• Charlie Kirk called Harris “a zealot in race-based type redistribution and aid” for pointing out that the “lowest income communities and our communities of color ... are most impacted by these extreme conditions.” Discussing the federal response to Helene, Kirk played the 2022 clip of Harris speaking about hurricane relief, calling it “a window into her sinister ideology” that aims to “administer aid based on irrelevant characteristics.” [The Charlie Kirk Show, 9/30/24]
   

Fact: Hurricane relief funding requires congressional approval and is separate from foreign aid spending
 

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, right-wing media complained about the Biden administration’s pledge to give $157 million to Lebanon, incorrectly claiming that the foreign humanitarian aid was being taken from funds that would otherwise be used for domestic disaster relief. Fox News host Sean Hannity misleadingly suggested foreign aid is competing for funding with disaster relief. Top online shows spread similar misinformation in the storm’s aftermath, suggesting the federal response was tied to military assistance for Ukraine.

The Department of Homeland Security, which houses FEMA, does not directly fund Ukraine’s military like the Department of Defense does, though it does provide some relief for Ukrainian nationals who come to the U.S. The aid package that was passed by Congress in 2024 had been vetted for months before the hurricane occurred, and passed with bipartisan support. American military aid for Ukraine, which has largely come in the form of weapons and equipment, has faced criticism from the right and the left. Defense funding is unrelated to disaster relief, however, and no government programs were cut to pay for the aid to Ukraine. 

• Russell Brand said, “Your tax dollars are going to Ukraine while your countrymen and women and people are suffering during a crisis.” After claiming that “a further $175 billion in aid has been sent to Ukraine right when Americans are being told to donate to the North Carolina flood aid,” Brand declared that the government exists “to engage in perpetual war to keep you terrified and distracted and keep you controlled. And that's exactly what it's doing.” [Stay Free with Russell Brand, 10/2/24]
   
• Brand said, “It looks like FEMA don’t have sufficient budgets to get America through the hurricane season,” suggesting the funding instead went toward “$2.4 billion in aid just provided to Ukraine.” In another episode, he told his audience, “It seems like there’s been a lot of money for Ukraine,” and asked, “Is there enough money available for this crisis, this hurricane crisis?” [Stay Free with Russell Brand, 10/3/24, 10/9/24]
   
• Joe Rogan said, “Think about how much money we have spent on a war that we're not even in. … Didn’t they just send another few billion [to Ukraine]? A little bit here, a little bit there — I mean, I wonder how much they set aside for those people in North Carolina and Tennessee from that hurricane.” [The Joe Rogan Experience, 10/1/24]

Six months into Trump’s second term, it appears the administration is not moving to protect citizens from future natural disasters, nor is it aiding the recovery process for previous ones. E&E News described “chaos” at FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the start of the 2025 hurricane season. 

At the end of May, FEMA “denied North Carolina's request for the agency to match 100% of the state funds for Helene cleanup.” On June 10, Trump announced plans for states to “wean off of” FEMA aid and “bring it down to the state level” after the 2025 hurricane season, which started at the beginning of the month. Just a few days later, the head of FEMA’s crucial National Coordination Response Center resigned. 

Not only has the Trump administration further weakened emergency response mechanisms that top online hosts and right-wing media previously complained about, it has set the stage for more misinformation to interfere with relief efforts over the next few months.
 

• FEMA workers and local leaders agree that misinformation surrounding Hurricane Helene made recovery more difficult both physically and emotionally. FEMA aid workers temporarily stopped ground operations after facing threats, while false claims about FEMA taking people’s property, stealing or blocking donations, or victims being abandoned on purpose created fear and distrust. On Fox News, Canton, North Carolina, Mayor Zeb Smathers said that he was focused on “combatting misinformation out there” because “there are so many rumors and innuendo and we're trying to concentrate people on the volunteers, where they can get help, you know, help from the feds, the state.” Peter O’Leary, the mayor of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, told CNN that the misinformation “affects people like me, because I’m just trying to get stuff done and now I have to spend time debunking ridiculous claims. And that’s really where it hurts. It just diverts resources and people’s attention away from what’s real to something that’s just absurd.” [USA Today, 10/9/24, 11/14/24; CNN, 10/15/24; FactCheck.org, 10/13/24; Media Matters, 10/4/24, 10/18/24]
   
• NOAA recently predicted an “above normal” Atlantic hurricane season for 2025. The agency wrote that there is a “60% chance of an above-normal season,” including 3-5 major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or greater. Hurricane season started on June 1 and ends on November 30. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 5/22/25]
   
• The Trump administration is cutting agencies that play key roles in preparing for extreme weather. John Morales, a veteran meteorologist for South Florida’s NBC6, warned viewers on June 3 that he would not be able to provide reliable information about hurricane forecasts due to cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service. Morales highlighted that Central and South Florida NWS offices are understaffed and said that “the quality of the forecast is becoming degraded,” adding, “We may be flying blind.” [Twitter/X, 6/3/25]
   
• State and local leaders and emergency managers fear that preparations for the incoming hurricane season will be insufficient. Reuters reported that the newly appointed head of FEMA, David Richardson, said he “had not been aware the country has a hurricane season.” While a DHS spokesperson said the comment was a joke, Richardson “has no disaster response experience” and sources told Reuters that his “comment purporting ignorance about hurricane season spread among agency staff, spurring confusion and reigniting concern about his lack of familiarity with FEMA's operations.” In several states, the FEMA funding cuts are imperiling infrastructure needed for communities to withstand future flooding. [Reuters, 6/3/25; Media Matters, 6/4/25; The New York Times, 6/8/25; The Baltimore Sun, 5/29/25; NPR, 6/5/2025]
   
• While Fox News relentlessly scrutinized and attacked disaster response under Biden, the network has largely ignored concerns emergency managers have raised over the administration’s plans to “eliminate FEMA” and the agency’s reported lack of preparation for this year’s extreme weather season. A recent Media Matters study found that zero Fox News segments covering extreme weather from March 18 to May 27 discussed the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate FEMA or actions to reduce or disrupt the agency in the face of increasing extreme weather events. [Media Matters, 6/3/25]

For our March 2025 study, Media Matters compiled a list of 320 online shows (podcasts, streams, and other long-form audio and video content regularly posted online) that were active in 2024 and covered news and politics or hosted related guests with an ideological bent. We also assessed the audience size of these online shows across platforms. We categorized 191 of the shows as right-leaning and 129 as left-leaning.

We assessed total followers and subscribers across streaming platforms (YouTube, Spotify, Rumble, Twitch, and Kick) and social media platforms that are used to amplify and promote these shows (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok). The 10 shows with the largest followings were The Joe Rogan Experience, The Ben Shapiro Show, The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, Stay Free with Russell Brand, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, What Now? with Trevor Noah, The Charlie Kirk Show, Full Send Podcast, Candace, and The Dr. Phil Podcast.

For an explanation of how we compiled online shows, identified them as covering news and politics, identified their ideological alignment, and gathered data on audience size, see the methodology here.

For this new study, Media Matters assessed discussion about Hurricane Helene among the top 10 online shows by compiling all original long-form audio and video content streamed or uploaded from September 27, 2024, the day Hurricane Helene made landfall, through October 11, 2024. Original long-form content included podcasts, streams, and other content longer than 10 minutes posted on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Rumble, Twitch, or Kick. If content was posted on multiple platforms (either fully or partially), we included the full version only once and removed any duplicates.

For each of the top 10 online shows, researchers independently identified original long-form content during the time frame that included discussion about hurricanes, particularly Helene or Milton, as well as related government response and recovery, or conspiratorial speculation about the storms, including weather conspiracy theories, by searching transcripts for the following keywords: “hurricane,” “Hurricane Helene,” “FEMA,” “weather control,” “North Carolina,” “$700,” “700,” “$750,” “750,” “geoengineer,” “geoengineering,” “geoengineered,” “geo-engineer,” “geo-engineering,” “geo-engineered,” “weather manipulation,” “weather modification,” and “DEW.” Researchers did not identify any misinformation about Hurricane Milton, specifically. 

For each audio/video example of content that contained one or more of the keywords, researchers coded whether there was at least one example of misinformation or false narratives about Hurricane Helene based on Media Matters’ past coverage of the hurricane, including misinformation about the availability and distribution of disaster relief and misleading narratives or conspiracy theories alleging weather manipulation or suggesting that certain land or populations were deliberately targeted by the government for political or economic gain. A final code was given if two researchers independently awarded content with the same code. Hurricane discussions that did not achieve this level of consensus were reviewed again individually by additional coders who then reconciled discrepancies.

The resulting list consisted of 15 long-form audio/video content from 5 of the top 10 online shows that were determined to have at least one example of the selected misinformation or false narratives about the hurricanes. For this list, we collected total views of the affiliated long-form YouTube or Rumble videos on June 25, 2025. Using Social Blade, we also gathered data on the total subscribers on September 30, 2024, for YouTube channels affiliated with the top 10 online shows.