“All Scientists Forced to Retire After Realizing the Science Is Now Settled”: The Role of Right-Wing Humor in Spreading Climate Change Denial

This paper analyzes articles from the popular Babylon Bee satire website to show how right-wing humor spreads climate change denialism. The findings reveal that denialist satire closely follows the news cycle, clustering around moments of heightened media attention. Satirical attacks focus primarily on the messengers of climate action—politicians, activists, and scientists—rather than on scientific evidence itself. These figures are most often discredited through ad hominem attacks, though other logical fallacy techniques are also frequent. A qualitative application of humor theory demonstrates how such satire resonates with conservative worldviews, reinforcing distrust of climate science and policy.