Death of Obamas' chef leads to conspiracy theories

The death of Tafari Campbell, a personal chef to Barack and Michelle Obama who had previously worked at the White House, has sparked a slew of right-wing conspiracy theories that proliferated rapidly online in the hours after news of his drowning emerged.

Conspiracy theories have hounded Barack Obama from the start of his career in politics; it was his eventual successor in the Oval Office, Donald Trump, who spearheaded the false story that the biracial Chicagoan had not been born in the United States. Former first lady Michelle Obama and the couple’s daughters have long been targets of conspiracy theories as well.

Such narratives have a long history in the United States and have at different times been embraced by right and left alike. But since the Clinton administration, conspiracy theories involving Democrats have been increasingly common in some corners of the right, culminating in the rise of QAnon during the Trump presidency.

The backstory — read more from our partners: Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

What happened?

Campbell worked for the Obamas during their time in the White House and later served as their private chef. At the time of his death, he was visiting their compound in the village of Edgartown on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.

On Sunday evening he went paddleboarding in Edgartown Bay Pond. According to the Associated Press, another paddleboarder told authorities that Campbell “had struggled on the surface, went under and didn’t resurface.”

His body was found on Monday, in 8 feet of water, about 100 feet from shore. He was not wearing a lifejacket, authorities said.

Campbell, who was 45, is survived by his wife and twin sons.

Read more from our partners: What we know about Obama chef and loving husband who died paddleboarding in Martha’s Vineyard

'Our hearts are broken'

At first, it was believed that the Obamas were not staying in their house at the time of Campbell’s death. But the Boston Globe later reported that “the couple were elsewhere on the island Sunday,” according to the former president’s office.

The update on their whereabouts instantly led some prominent right-wing social media influencers to conclude that the Obamas were trying to conceal where they were at the time of the drowning.

Barack and Michelle Obama released a statement about Campbell’s death. “When we were getting ready to leave the White House, we asked Tafari to stay with us, and he generously agreed. He’s been part of our lives ever since, and our hearts are broken that he’s gone,” it said in part.

The backstory — read more from our partners: Obama, Clinton mingle on Martha's Vineyard after foreign policy spat

An odd coincidence

Conspiracy thrives on coincidence, and there is an especially grim one when it comes to Campbell’s untimely passing: He is not the first White House chef to have accidentally drowned.

In 2015, former White House chef Walter Scheib disappeared while hiking near Taos, N.M. Hired by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, Scheib worked at the White House from 1994 until 2005, when he was fired by President George W. Bush.

Scheib’s body was found several days after he set out on his hike, in what was then described as “a mountain drainage flowing with surface runoff.” It was not clear what happened, since he had been hiking alone, but the cause of death was drowning.

There are no connections, of course, between the respective tragedies that overtook Scheib and, many years later, Campbell. But that hasn’t stopped some influential figures from making a connection, suggesting that the deaths were somehow related to what the chefs had seen in the White House.

The backstory — read more from our partners: Search on for ex-White House chef missing in New Mexico mountains

Conspiracies proliferate

It may be that the internet is the perfect conspiracy incubator. Once the domain of fringe newsletters, conspiracy theories migrated to talk radio, spread by hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

Today, all you have to do is log on to social media platforms, where millions of people freely share conspiracy theories about everything from vaccines to the Holocaust.

Campbell’s demise lent itself with sad predictability to becoming fodder for outlandish theories about the Obamas’ involvement.

“No matter what the government or media reports about Obama's chef who died on his property — I won't believe a word of it,” a right-wing influencer with nearly 2 million followers on Twitter posted. “Why would they start telling the truth now?”

Some shared video footage from Instagram supposedly showing Campbell in the middle of a swimming lesson, using the clip as evidence that he could not have drowned. Others thought it implausible that he would drown in shallow water.

“This whole drowning-in-8-feet-of-water-in-a-private-pond-on-the-Obama-estate story is shady AF,” offered former Trump administration official Monica Crowley.

A local resident told Fox News on Tuesday night that drownings in the pond were “almost unheard of.”

Yet drowning in shallow water is, it turns out, terrifyingly common.

Conspiracies are a way to avoid confronting reality, which is often uncomfortable or unpleasant. And it is painfully uncomfortable to know that an ordinary paddleboard outing on a summer evening can end in death.

Read more from Yahoo News: Conspiracy theory believers 'are more likely to be antisemites'