Recycled claim is still false: The COVID-19 pandemic was not planned

Two years ago, rapper Pitbull sat down for an interview and made an unfounded claim about the COVID-19 pandemic that went viral and was debunked. Now, his claim’s circulating again on social media.

During a Sept. 25, 2020 appearance on "Drink Champs," a podcast that’s also an internet and TV show, Pitbull, whose given name is Armano Christian Pérez, suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned and that a 2019 simulation called Event 201 was a rehearsal for it. A clip from the interview resurfaced on Twitter on Aug. 22. 

"There’s a rehearsal that went on before this whole s---, it’s called Event 201. October 8, 2019, this s--- came out," Pitbull said. "It was run by the Johns Hopkins University, which is in cahoots with Bill Gates/Melinda Gates’ foundation, and this was a complete rehearsal of what we’re (doing) right now." 

Pitbull’s claim was fact-checked by multiple media outlets in 2020, and it remains untrue. Event 201 was a real meeting that simulated the effects of a pandemic. But its purpose was to help boost preparedness for any global outbreak.  

We reached out to Pitbull’s spokesperson for comment but did not receive a reply. 

Pitbull was correct about the details of Event 201: It was held Oct. 18, 2019, and was sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Economic Forum, according to the event website.

The 3.5-hour simulation featured a virus outbreak that started in Brazil with bats, and then moved to pigs and people before spreading to South America, the United States and many other countries.

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Business, government and public health leaders were "players" in the exercise and were tasked with creating a policy response to the simulation. 

"Exercises similar to Event 201 are a particularly effective way to help policymakers gain a fuller understanding of the urgent challenges they could face in a dynamic, real-world crisis," according to the event website.

Following the spread of misinformation about the event, The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security issued a statement about it in 2020.

Event 201 did model a fictional coronavirus, but "we explicitly stated that it was not a prediction," the center’s statement said. "Instead, the exercise served to highlight preparedness and response challenges that would likely arise in a very severe pandemic."

The family of viruses known as coronaviruses are common, and some types in addition to COVID-19 have also been serious, including SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012.

In 2020, Pitbull suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned and that a 2019 simulation called Event 201 was a rehearsal for it. 

Event 201 was a real event held in 2019, but it did not predict or plan for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a preparedness exercise to help global leaders respond to future pandemics.

We rate this claim False.