Gary Heavin, the co-founder of fitness chain Curves International, recently told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that he met with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to discuss coronavirus. During the same appearance on Jones' show, Heavin promoted a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 is a man-made biological weapon to target people based on race and said that he shared information with Abbott from extremely disreputable conspiracy theorist Mike Adams that he said was “an instrumental part of that conversation.”

Heavin is a major donor to Abbott and has provided him with private air travel. He is also a conspiracy theorist. As Right Wing Watch documented, Heavin has promoted conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terror attacks and that in 2016 he “won cheers” from disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker’s audience “when he lashed out at the refugee resettlement program and American immigration policy, which he cited as proof that the government is deliberately attempting to incite unrest.”

During the March 11 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show, host Alex Jones said of Heavin, “We got a call about two hours ago, he said I’m about to meet with the governor -- I know how much the governor loves you and you guys meet a lot -- on coronavirus and I want to come in after I talk to him and give you a report on what’s going on.” Heavin said of the meeting, “A lot of it is going to be in confidence so I can’t reveal everything he had to say, but I do have a lot to say around that conversation.”

Heavin then joined the broadcast for approximately 50 minutes. During his appearance, Heavin said of COVID-19, “We know that it’s a weaponized virus because we see the RNA strands that were put into this virus from HIV, from MERS, and from the SARS virus. There’s no way this could have happened in nature.” As for who made COVID-19, Heavin pointed to “the powers that be in this country who want to destroy [Donald] Trump’s presidency.”