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DAVID MENZIES | My brief, bad, brutal experience with Ozempic
00:30:56
Tonight on The Ezra Levant Show, guest host David Menzies recounts his brief ordeal with Ozempic, explores its concealed risks, and highlights the importance of regulatory oversight. In addition, Ezra Levant speaks with Billboard Chris about his activism and recent arrest in Spain while raising awareness of the harmful impacts of the transgenderism movement on children.
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I was a Rebel News reporter. I was a Rebel News plus subscriber.
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Are you?
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If you don't know what that is, that's for as little as $8 a month, you get exclusive Rebel content. That means you get first dibs on our shows, documentaries and more. And you also support our journalism and keep it going strong. So why not join Rebel News plus today?
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You're listening to rebel news podc. Tonight, I tried Ozempic. Trust me folks, the cure is worse than the Curse. It's Wednesday, June 17th, 2026. I'm David Menzies and this is the EZREL event show. Shame on you, you censorious.
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Foreign.
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Just headline this monologue as my brief, bad, brutal experience with Ozempic. Here's the backstory. About a decade ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. This meant lifestyle changes such as reading food labels for the first time. You know, it's shocking to see that sugar is injected into almost everything. Do you know that ketchup is essentially a liquefied donut when it comes to its sugar content? Crazy. In any event, over the years, I did make progress. I got my blood sugar down. No mean feat, given that I remain cursed with a sweet tooth. And I did lose weight via dietary changes and exercise. But when it comes to doctors, progress can't come fast enough, it would seem. And so it was that my doctor suggested I take that miracle drug known as Ozempic. I know she meant well. Now, the ostensible reason for Ozempic is to get diabetes under control. But I'd wager most people on the planet are taking Ozempic purely for weight loss. In this regard, Ozempic really does work as an appetite killer. Once the injection started, I would consume perhaps 25% of what I'd normally eat. And yet I would feel stuffed. I had heard anecdotally that Ozempic kills one's desire for booze. In my experience, this proved 100% true. While taking Ozempic, it was cold turkey time for me. I smiled, thinking how much money I would deny our government run booze monopoly. But those smiles would later turn into grimaces. Here's the bad news. In the two months I was on Ozempic, it felt less like I was taking a miracle drug and more like I was being poisoned. I do not exaggerate. Simply put, I never felt more miserable. The first side effect was horrendous stomach aches. Never have I consumed more eno in a failed attempt to bring tranquility back to my beleaguered belly. Sometimes for hours I would remain in the fetal position, moaning with pain. It was that bad. There was also this constant feeling that I had to vomit. That was horrible too. And then there was the nausea. I never get seasick, but from the descriptions of seasickness when by those who suffer from it, it seemed that I too was enduring seasickness even though I never ventured out to sea. I would later learn that these side effects are very common for users of Ozempic. And there are other not so common side effects too. This includes gallbladder problems, kidney damage, thyroid C cell tumors and and vision changes. I would find out later that while Ozempic is meant to attack fat, it also goes on the warpath against muscle. Indeed, up to 40% of weight loss can come from lean muscle mass rather than fat. I was not amused by this. For there I was busting my butt in the gym pumping iron, while at the same time a drug inside of me was counteracting all this weightlifting. I mean, give me a break already. Weightlifting is already becoming increasingly harder for me as I age. I don't need my own body conspiring against me thanks to a nefarious foreign agent. And another thing, I can tell you that while on Ozempic, I contracted tinnitus. The hearing in my right ear is completely gone. Well, that's not completely true. It feels like a tuning fork has been shoved into my ear. What few sounds are picked up sounds like shrill bird chirps. It is absolutely maddening. And sadly, there is no cure for tinnitus. Now to be clear, it's very possible that contracting tinnitus was a coincidence. I am not saying there's a direct correlation between Ozempic and hearing loss. But folks, for me this is the crux of the matter. Namely, what are the long term side effects of Ozempic? What research will be amassed in the years and even decades down the road? At this point we don't know, do we? Given that Ozempic is so relatively new. Then again, perhaps the mistake of taking Ozempic is on me. Maybe I should have known better when it comes to the risks associated with taking a whiz bang brand new drug. After all, the single biggest reason I did not get the COVID 19 vaccine jab isn't necessarily because I'm anti vaccine. Rather it's because I am anti experimental vaccine. After all, I'm a 1962 baby who dodged a bullet. And the name of that bullet was thalidomide. Thalidomide dates back to the late 1950s. It was supposed to be a medical miracle. Instead, it was a disaster. The drug was meant to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women. In that regard, thalidomide worked brilliantly. But there was a steep price to be paid, namely, more than 10,000 babies the world over were born with severe birth defects. Perhaps the best written account regarding thalidomide is Suffer the Children, the Story of Thalidomide, which was written by the Insight team of the Times of London. Published in 1979, it is a book that will sadden and enrage any reader. Here is a snippet from the book's introduction. Quote the thalidomide babies whose births shock the world have grown up. They were born almost 20 years ago with a terrible range of deformities because the thalidomide sedative pill their mothers took during pregnancy was not a wonder drug, but a cruel perverter of the growing body in the womb. The thalidomide teenagers are coping with life as best anyone can when they lack arms or legs or suffer from other serious deficiencies. In Britain, 19 year old David Bickers, who has no legs and only rudimentary digits where arms should be, studies mathematics and electronics and produces his own talking magazine for the blind. Terry Wiles, who is barely two feet tall and has no arms or legs and only one eye, writes and types his own short stories. Gary Skinner, who has short flippers where his arm should be, works as a telephone switchboard operator in the local hospital. Something like 8,000 thalidomide children are alive in the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Italy and Spain. Altogether, the pill known internationally as thalidomide claimed victims in 46 countries where it was prescribed by doctors and sold across the counter under a variety of trade names on license from the original German inventors, Chemi Gurthenol. Mothers who took the pill in the first trimester of pregnancy when limb buds of the fetus form produced children with a wide but distinctive range of deformities. Some have no arms, just flippers from the shoulder. Some no legs, just toes from their hips. Some have limbless trunks with just a head and a body. Some appear to be physically normal but were injured internally. Most of the children have a normal range of intelligence, but a few are vegetables. Some are deaf or blind or suffer from epilepsy and and other manifestations of severe brain damage. They are all victims not merely of a drug accident, but of the dangerous myth, invented in Germany and exported to a credulous world, that thalidomide was better than all other tranquilizers, because it was non toxic, had no side effects and was completely safe for pregnant women. None of these statements announced by the drug companies and accepted by doctors was true, end quote. Making things immeasurably worse. Not only did this drug not come as advertised, a second tragedy occurred when news of the deformed thalidomide baby started making headlines the world over. And that second tragedy was how governments and social institutions not only failed to keep the drug off the market, but didn't act quickly, even when its horrific side effects were known. By the way, folks, that list of dawdlers would include our home and native land in Canada. Thalidomide, somehow, some way, remained on the market for three months after it had been withdrawn in Britain and Germany. What a gross dereliction of duty. Thus the question arises, how many more babies were born in Canada with terrible deformities during those months when it could have been prevented? Please remember this fact when it comes to our healthcare head honchos robotically chirping, follow the science. But here's where things get personal. I almost forgot to mention a very relevant point regarding thalidomitomy. That's because my mother became pregnant with yours truly back in August 1961. I found out later in life that she suffered from horrendous morning sickness. So what did she do? Well, like thousands of other pregnant women globally, she got a prescription for thalidomide. And there it sat, upon her night table, the cap never unsealed, not a single tablet ever consumed. Why? Was it woman's intuition? Was it some hunch deep in her gut that she didn't quite trust the drug companies and the doctors and the pharmacists that this drug was completely safe. And so it was that she never ingested thalidomide. It's baffling. Especially because I'm the kind of guy who goes running for an extra strength Advil tablet should a minor headache come to fruition. And yet I can't help but think, what if? What if my mother had taken those tablets? What if I had been born terribly deformed? I don't think I would have gone on to become a journalist. I don't think I would be here, employed by this wonderful company, presenting this monologue to you. I don't think I would be married to a beautiful woman who gave me two wonderful sons. No, I don't even want to think about what if now, while it was my grandparents who raised me, I can tell you this much for certain. When my mother decided not to consume those insidious tablets. That was the single greatest gift she could ever have bestowed upon me. My mother was never really part of my life, and I only found out from a government letter that she had died some 15 years ago. But I remain eternally grateful for her foresight. Thanks to the global thalidomide disaster and what could have been my personal fate, a lesson was learned. Which is to say I am not open to anything that is experimental being injected into my body. Again. I really should have known better when it came to Ozempic. And consider this chilling paragraph from Suffer the Children Quote Secrecy cast a long shadow in the thalidomide affair, first over the discovery of what went wrong medically and legally, and then over publication of the truth. Much of the story in this book has laid for 15 years under veils of legal censorship. It is a story about a cover up as well as about a drug disaster. It is less a scientific horror tale, though that element is present, than a parable about the predicament of the individual who is asked to pay the price for progress. End quote. To be clear, I am not saying that Ozempic is the second coming of thalidomide. What I am saying is that nobody knows for certain what the long term side effects of the of this drug will be because it is still so relatively new. I also want to be clear about something as well. If Ozempic is working fine for you, be it controlling diabetes or for weight loss, I am genuinely happy for you and I pray that in the years to come, no other dire consequences will result from Ozempic use. In the meantime, I am done with Ozempic. I'd rather pack on a few extra pounds. Heck, I'd even rather have a shorter lifespan than go through life feeling as though I'm on death's doorstep. For me, when it came to Ozempic, the cure was far worse than the curse.
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Pardes me llamo Billboard Chris and I am in Madrid, Spain. I don't speak Spanish, but that's okay because I've got some people coming out with me today who do because it's important we get this message out, which is Los ninos no pueden concentir blockadores de la pobertad. Spain has done nothing really to stop this. They're giving puberty blockers two 12 year olds. They're following up with the opposite sexes hormones. They're sterilizing kids who have come to this incredibly harmful belief that they were born in the wrong body, that they are transgender and the whole thing's a lie. There's no such thing as a transgender child. They're called girls and boys, and the affirming message is they're beautiful just as they are. So I'm going to be out here having conversations, and I've got the police rolling up right now. Hola. How are you? Do you speak English? I'm allowed to record. It's not streaming. Okay. We're gonna have a problem here if you don't speak English, because I don't know how to speak Spanish. It's not prohibited. It's not pre. Prohibito. I researched the laws before I came here.
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Well, one of our favorite guys is Billboard Chris, or Billboard Chris Elston for his full name. I don't think legally Billboard is part of his name, but it's how people know him because he's got this brilliant but simple approach to dealing with the issue of transgenderism, especially in children. He literally stands there with an invitation to talk to people. He has a billboard with a very simple and, in fact, sometimes irrefutable statement, like no child is born in the wrong body or children cannot consent to puberty blockers. Really stark statements. And he'll stand in the busy town square. And I've seen him do it everywhere, from Davos, Switzerland, the heart of the World Economic Forum, to Ireland to America, of course, and here in Canada. So I was not surprised to see that he was in Madrid, Spain, and neither was I surprised, even though I was disappointed to see the police gave him a hassle in Madrid. Joining us now, freshly repatriated to Canada, is our friend, Billboard Chris. Chris, great to see you again. Welcome back. You have the pure simplicity of what you do is, I think, the source of power. You just put a basic statement out there and invite the world to engage with you. I'm not going to call you low energy in terms of, like, it takes energy to do it, but you don't. You're not raising the energy of the conversation. You're responding with compassion and facts. It's not like you're not a shouter is what I'm saying. You absorb energy from critics. Tell me what happened when you took your trademark conversation to Spain.
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Yeah, so I went to Madrid just for two days, including, plus two days of travel. But I was invited by an organization called Azte Awir, which they do things like us. They've been around for 25 years, and they like freedom and they are pro life, and they don't think we should be sterilizing children with puberty blocking Drugs and cross, sex hormones and all these normal things. So they also have an international offshoot called Citizen Go, which does work all over the world. And I've collaborated with them. So they were kind enough to invite me and to give me a little award. And then because I'm all that way in Spain, I thought, let's go out on the street. So I had some Spanish signs made of my message and I went to the main town square in Madrid, it's called Puerta del Sol. And I was there for probably four minutes. I had just recorded a one minute intro after setting up my tripod, which I set up beside a big pillar so I'd be out of the way. And this is a huge town Square, it's 80 yards wide, 100 yards long. I wasn't near anybody. I recorded this little intro. And as I'm finishing my intro and you can watch this on social media, the police pull up and right away they told me that what I was doing was prohibito.
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I know what that means. And I don't speak Spanish.
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That's right. And I don't speak it much either. So we had a language barrier. But I studied the law before I went. And I spoke with a lawyer in Spain the night before. And I know I'm allowed to do this. So anyway, long story short, after 10 or 15 minutes, another police car pulled up and they seized my phone, they seized my tripod, they seized my signs, they then seized my other phone. I use an old phone sometimes when I'm talking to people to show them research. And I had to go to the police station where I was held for almost two hours with no communication. I was able to get a message out through my Apple Watch to some friends in Spain who got me lawyers. And the lawyers showed up about 45 minutes later and magically I was released with a fine. But there's no number on the fine. So this whole thing is just a bit of a gong show. And I'm going to appeal for sure because I don't think police should be able to abuse their authority like that. I've been reviewing all the legal regarding this situation, and they violated many things in the way they treated me. And we can't let that stand because I'm just a normal guy who thinks we shouldn't be sterilizing kids who have been taught that they're born in the wrong body, and I should be able to do that.
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Well, I like the fact that you know the law and you study it before you go to each jurisdiction and I've seen you deploy that. When police come over, they. They really don't know what to do with you. I mean, they know you're different. They can pretty quickly detect that you're not from wherever you are, like, you're Canadian, or they might think you're an American. So they don't know what to do. And they think, well, better safe than sorry. Let's arrest this guy. So you were held for two hours and then 45 minutes for the lawyers to come. Did you get back on the streets? Did you take. Did you get back possession of your. Your phone, your other equipment? Did you get your billboards back?
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I did. I'm missing one of my lapel mics, so. I don't know, they just misplaced it or something. But, yeah, I got out. I had tapas with the lawyers, and then together with the lawyers, we went right back to the same spot in the town square.
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Well, that sounds like a very pleasant afternoon, if you can handle the stress of it, be arrested, be redeemed, have some tapas with the lawyers, and then go out on the street. I'd say you had a busy day.
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I did. And you know, when these things happen, Ezra, I'm calm up here. Yeah, but your body still has a reaction.
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Oh, the adrenaline. Yeah, the adrenaline.
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My apple watch kept interrupting me, telling me that my heart rate is abnormally high, considering I'm not moving, because it was running at about 110 to 120. Because you don't know what these guys are going to do. The same thing happened to me in Brussels. Right after I'd spoken at the European Parliament, I went out on the street. They did the same thing there. They did what was called an administrative arrest, at first saying, I just need to pay a fine. Well, the next thing I know, at the first police station, I'm in handcuffs, and then I'm taken to another station where I'm put in jail and script searched.
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Oh, my God. Yeah. You know, I was sort of joking about it being a busy day and just the arc. The turn of events in that day was so incredible. But I think authorities, you know, the whole world over, I think, are turning against freedom of speech. I think maybe America is still fairly free. But just online, I see France, the uk, Australia, Canada, all shepherding in more censorship laws, either on what you can say, or you have to prove your ID and identify yourself before going online. I really think that the powers that be are hostile to freedom of speech because they want to control all the debates, especially controversial subjects like transgenderism and children. I think that, I mean, I remember back when Twitter was owned by Jack Dorsey before it was sold to Elon Musk. They censored transgenderism harder than any other subject. They would censor if you dead, named someone or misgendered them or said he instead of they. They would censor you within minutes. It's like they. More, more than they would censor things on radical Islam or terrorism. They were obsessed by your subject. Speaking of which, let me ask you, how has Twitter been treating you since Elon Musk in, in, let's say, last year? Are you. Is it still a free forum for you?
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Yeah, it's great for me. Now, before Elon Musk bought the platform, There was a 13 month period where every single one of my posts was deemed adult content. So every picture was hidden, every video, and that made it impossible to grow. But as soon as Elon acquired X, I was able to get that lifted and it's fine now. Elon actually subscribes to me. He pays me $5 a month.
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C
Come on.
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I do the same for him though, so it's a wash.
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C
He subscribes to you. You're the. That's. That's such a, a signal. I mean, because of course, transgenderism is a topic that hits close to home with him and he speaks about it with some pain and I won't get into. I mean, he talks about it publicly that one of his children was caught up in the cult. I think he must admire what you're doing.
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Yeah. And I think his influence has spread to other social media platforms as well. Because what happened a few years ago after he acquired it, we had what were known as the Twitter files, where it was exposed that the US Government was basically directing these executives within Twitter to censor conservatives accounts. And the same thing was happening at Facebook and YouTube, etc. And once all this came out, we had Zuckerberg start to wake up. And now I wouldn't have been able to be on Facebook before. I hadn't even tried back then because I knew I wouldn't last. But now my Facebook account is growing rapidly, Instagram's growing rapidly, YouTube's doing fine. So I think in that respect things are better. But we have all these governments around the world, as you have just noted, who are trying to clamp down on our freedom of speech. And if Democrats win this next election, in a few years, it's all just going to be repeated again. And Democrats haven't given up 1 inch on transgender insanity. They're determined to die. On this hill and we need to make sure that they do die on this hill. Yeah.
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C
If I'm not mistaken, Trump just turned 80 and of course his term expires as president in a couple years. Even though he, he likes to taunt people with the prospect of running a third time, I don't think he's serious about it. You can see they're shifting their public enemy number one title to Elon Musk. I mean, whether it's in the guise of he shouldn't have all that money or whatever the attacks on him are in the uk, they particularly don't like him talking about immigration policy and censorship. He is, I think, the most consequential force for freedom of speech in the English world. And you already described your experience with that on Twitter. I think that he will be their chief target when Trump is gone and no longer in a position to protect him. But who knows? Maybe by then he'll be on Mars, beyond the reach of some of the censors. Last word to you, Chris. What are your plans? I mean, I take it, I mean, you're like the Energizer Bunny.
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You.
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Every week you pop up somewhere else. Tell me what we should expect from you in the weeks and months ahead.
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Well, I'll be, I'll be in Vancouver tomorrow, on the streets before the Canada Qatar World cup game and after as well. But on this weekend, I'm hitting. I'm heading to the UK for the alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference. It's basically the biggest international conservative conference. Jordan Peterson had started it and so that's a three day conference where I'll be making a lot of friends and doing important networking and I'll be heading out on the streets as well. And I'm very excited about that trip because my 16 year old daughter is coming with me. So she's going to come to the conference and we'll do some stuff together on the street and I'll make sure she's safe. But that's going to be a fun week in London.
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Yeah, well, I've attended that conference before. It's very interesting. Some fascinating people. Unfortunately, Chris, I won't be able to attend this year. I don't know if you heard, the Home Office has banned me from visiting the uk And I don't even want to say the words out loud lest I plant a seed of the idea. But I'm delighted that you're still allowed for now to travel to the United Kingdom. But someone who speaks the truth and who takes to the streets, like yourself, I hope that you don't show up on a targeted list from the UK because they are banning and censoring and arresting and questioning people in a way that would make your Madrid experience look like a walk in the park.
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I totally agree, but I do have one trick up my sleeve. I'm actually a British citizen as well. My dad is from England, so.
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C
Got it. Well, you know what?
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I do need to get a passport, though, because they can cancel my ETA anytime, so I need to get another passport.
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All right. Well, I hope. I don't think any of the bad guys are watching this segment, but the fact that you've got British citizenship through your father, that's very encouraging. And that'll stop them from kicking you out. I, alas, do not have that status. Great to see you, my friend. Keep up the good fight, and thanks for coming on the show.
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Thanks, Ezra.
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Well, there he is, Billboard Chris. You can find him@billboardchris.com that's our show for today. Until next time, on behalf of all of us at Rebel World Headquarters and around the world, to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.