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Transcript:
You guys probably already know I am not a fan of MLMs: five years ago I did a video all about them, but just to recap, MLM stands for “multi-level marketing,” and it’s sometimes known as network marketing. MLMs are basically like pyramid schemes that also sell a product, which allows them to operate legally while continuing to pull people in with promises of huge profits from “working from home” that rarely, if ever appear. No one really wants the overpriced essential oils, skincare, or shampoo you’re peddling, and so your best bet is to try to recruit people onto your “team,” and the best way to do that is to either go after your friends and family or become a social media “influencer” and convince random people on TikTok or Facebook to join your weird little expensive cult.
And I don’t use the word “cult” lightly – I think that’s one of the reasons MLMs really appeal to me as a subject. It’s a con, but it’s also a con perpetuated by a handful of people who profit off the work of loyal adherents who are controlled with false promises, love bombing, toxic positivity, and other forms of manipulation.
Back in January I became aware of one really successful MLM “guru” by the name of Jessie Lee Ward, aka Boss Lee or “@Imbosslee” on instagram where she has 318,000 followers. I find pretty much anyone at the top of a con to be detestable, but let me tell you, this woman is on another level entirely, pun intended. She’s a MONSTER. For instance, take the incident that originally brought her to my attention: a few months ago, she took 15 or 16 women on a “retreat” to Columbia. They thought they were going out on a 2-mile hike before returning to their villa, but instead they were forced to walk 10 miles under the hot sun and then made to sleep on a beach with an armed guard nearby. One woman was diabetic. She almost died I guess? And there were all these horror stories coming from these women and every anti-MLM channel on the internet was feasting on them, when “Boss Lee” hopped online and just…confirmed everything. Like “yeah I did that to them, I lied about what we were doing and then I tortured them on purpose, it ruled.” Okay, lady! Just normal non-culty stuff.
So yeah this woman is just extremely cringey and hateable and that’s not even taking into consideration what she’s shilling, which is Pruvit, a ketone supplement that has been the subject of several Prop 65 lawsuits for apparently containing lead. So that’s fun. Yummy lead drink. To learn more about Prop 65, go watch my video about it from last week!
Anyway, Boss Lee recently announced some sad news: she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. When I heard, I immediately felt terrible for her. She’s a monster, sure, but no one deserves cancer.
But then I watched some of her videos about her cancer and, friends: I no longer feel terrible for her. She’s even worse than I realized.
So she immediately went into surgery and had a portion of her intestines removed, and was reporting from the hospital that all the doctors and nurses were blown away by how healthy she is (besides the cancer) and how quickly she was recovering, which she attributed to her supplements and various other bits of pseudoscience. And honestly I watched those videos and felt even worse for her, because she’s so deep into this toxic positivity cultish environment that she feels the need to get on camera and pretend that everything is fine even when she’s dealing with serious surgery.
But then she started talking about chemotherapy, and that’s when I lost all sympathy. Here’s a clip from anti-MLM YouTubers Erin Bies and Julie Jo, who captured her video in full and commented on it during a recent livestream.
She says her surgeon, who just had his hands on her intestines, begged her to consider chemotherapy, which she thinks is because he gets paid more if she, you know, decides to pursue a scientifically proven way to extend her life. No, she will not listen to those money-grubbing doctors (anymore), because she has access to Tony Robbins-approved alternative therapies (15 min) like infrared saunas and ozone therapy, just like Gwyneth.
Look. I have the utmost sympathy for the average person who gets a scary diagnosis and then wants to do everything they can to fight it, even treatments that aren’t scientifically proven. But part of doing “everything” needs to begin with the THING YOUR DOCTOR RECOMMENDS. And which every good doctor would recommend. Less than 10% of people diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer survive five more years. Proper treatment, which includes chemotherapy, can double a patient’s lifespan.
Some patients can get a diagnosis so bleak that they’d rather live out a shorter lifespan than go through the pain of chemo. That’s not what this is. She GENUINELY seems to believe that chemo doesn’t work, and that her unproven “alternative” therapies will work and that she will survive. She’s stating this to her huge audience of devoted followers. Not only is this likely going to kill her, but there’s a good chance that it’s going to kill someone else, too. Someone is going get a cancer diagnosis and they’re going to see these videos and say “Oh wow, she is so healthy and happy! She’s beating cancer! I’m going to do that, too. Screw chemo and those money-grubbing doctors!”
AND THEN she goes on to say this. “Every single doctor” asks if she’s vaccinated because of a “DIRECT CORRELATION” between the vaccine and cancer? Get fucked, you absolute ghoul. There is absolutely no truth to that at all: the COVID vaccine is safe and effective and there is absolutely no link to cancer. None. Doctors were asking if you’re vaccinated because there’s a PANDEMIC HAPPENING and they want to make sure you don’t get infected with COVID on top of having colon cancer.
You know, it kills me because she’s not stupid. I’ve since watched a lot of her videos, and while they are cringey and full of misinformation, I can clearly see that she’s very sharp, and also very driven. But her brains have been completely overtaken by these alt-med worms, and now she’s going to die because of it, and probably take other people with her.
It’s so incredibly sad, and disgusting. People, don’t fall for pyramid schemes or MLMs, don’t blindly trust people just because they’re charismatic and tell you what you want to hear, don’t take shady supplements, and don’t skip chemotherapy in favor of “ozone” therapy.
