Robert Cornero was a failed Hollywood screenwriter who sought vengeance on those he blamed for his scripts not getting picked up. To do this, he used his identity as a “QAnon influencer” to target Franklin Leonard, a writer who publishes reports on promising unproduced movie scripts. many of those scripts end up getting picked up in Hollywood and other places.
Upset that none of his own scripts had ever been featured in Leonard’s influential annual list, Cornero decided to use his power as an influencer to paint Leonard as a tool of a Satanic cabal intent on destroying the fabric of American society.
He used the handle “Neon Revolt” to spread his lies that would have a very negative effect on his victim, Leonard’s life.
This resulted in Leonard receiving a barrage of threatening messages and hate online, which left him baffled as he was not a well-known public figure like Tom Hanks or Oprah Winfrey. “I’m just some random guy,” Leonard told Will Sommer, a Daily Beast writer who has published a book about the QAnon conspiracy and their conspirators.
Cornero took pleasure in being able to cause distress to those he held responsible for the demise of his career. He had become a powerful figure in the QAnon movement, and was now using that power to spread and amplify his vendetta against them.
“They just had to endure it for days and weeks on end… there was really nothing they could do about it.” (Robert Cornero)
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. QAnon has become a powerful launching pad for conspiracies and unfounded accusations, and many have used it to spread targeted hate against innocent people. They have wrecked lives and put misinformation into the public discourse that tends to stick around like cockroaches in an abandoned house.
Sommer’s book, called “Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America” is now available for purchase.
Featured image via screen capture
