Former 8chan Admin Seemingly Slips Up And Admits He's Q

8kun administrator Ron Watkins, also known as CodeMonkeyz, spends much of his screentime in Cullen Hobeck's six-part HBO documentary series Q: Into the Storm carefully manicuring his image. Hobeck films him practicing his martial arts, swinging a giant mallet, which he says he'll use to attack a bear, surrounding himself with manga printouts and buying life-size Evangelion figurines. All the while, Watkins prods Hobeck about 8kun’s cash cow Q, the mysterious insider behind the conspiracy theory that’s ruined families and driven a massive misinformation campaign on social media, whose adherents were arrested as part of a mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

As the show went on, Watkins became more brazen. At first, he claimed ignorance to Q’s activities and identity (despite the imageboard Watkins moderates /qresearch/ being the exclusive source for Q drops), but in later episodes, he began asking directly about Q. He posited quickly debunked but intricate theories and waxed philosophical about what Q might be thinking. Like Peter Parker asking Mary Jane about her date with Spider-Man, he begins revealing more than he intends. That is until the ending when he seemed to all but admit that he’s Q. Neither he nor Hobeck could help but laugh.

In the series finale, which aired on Sunday night, after painstakingly detailing all the events leading from the formation of 2chan to the siege in the capitol, Hobeck interviewed Watkins one final time. That's when Watkins couldn't help but ask if he’s discovered Q’s secret identity, before talking about his newfound fame spreading conspiracy theories on his public Twitter account.

"It was basically three years of intelligence training, teaching normies how to do intelligence work," Ron Watkins says of his Twitter posts. "It was basically what I was doing anonymously before, but never as Q.”

This is the big reveal in the finale of #QIntotheStorm where Ron Watkins says too much to Cullen Hoback and lets his guard slip.

It was so good it made the whole six hours worth it. pic.twitter.com/QzwTGNcl5q

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) April 5, 2021

Neither Ron nor Hobeck could contain their laughter, like Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live, they broke. As Hobeck bowled over at what he believes is Watkins' admission that he is, in fact, Q, Watkins backpedals.

"Never as Q," he protests. "I promise. I am not Q."

Watkins' apparent slip-up is not an admission of guilt that would hold up in court, and the evidence that Hobeck mounted in his documentary is circumstantial. Things like Watkins' publicly sharing Q strategy days before a Q drop, and Q's ability to post moments after a months-long 8chan blackout probably won't hold up in court. But it is enough for Watkins to post the following message on Telegram hours after the show aired: "Friendly reminder: I am not Q. Have a good weekend."

Watkins has long been suspected of either being Q or working with the shadowy figure. Last September, 8chan founder and, following a slew of mass-shootings connected the site, defector, Fredrick Brennan went on a publicity tour to bring the site down. In an episode of the podcast Reply All, Brennan accused Ron and his father Jim of stealing the Q tripcode and taking over posting duties. Brennan argues that keeping Q on 8chan (later renamed 8kun) became essential to the site's financial future. Without Q, their user base would plummet.

Luckily for Ron and Jim, their userbase doesn't seem to mind, believe or know about Ron's apparent admission. Vice reports that QAnon influencers across Gab were quiet in regards to the documentary. One of the few discussions about the series was just a rebuttal:

Q is a group of genius level military intelligence with very high security clearances. There is 0 chance Ron is Q or is directly involved with the operation.