Come on, now we know you’ve come across the conspiracy theory about Bill Gates and the coronavirus pandemic. You know, that one that claims it’s a cover for a plan to implant trackable microchips that the Microsoft co-founder is behind.

For the world’s sake, we hope you weren’t one of the people spreading it, and so does Gates himself.

In a recent interview with Reuters, Gates was taken aback that some actually believe the theory which he described as “crazy” and “evil.”

“Do people really believe that stuff? he asked during the interview. “I’m very surprised by that. I hope it goes away.”

Social media has been fueling misinformation about the virus and propagating baseless claims about Gates creating the pandemic as a means to control people and make money.

“Nobody would have predicted that I and Dr Fauci would be so prominent in these really evil theories,” Gates told Reuters.

Dr Anthony Fauci is the chief infectious disease expert in the United States.

Gates has committed at least US$1.75 billion to the pandemic response, including support for vaccine makers, diagnostics, and potential treatments. While partly blaming social media for spreading conspiracy theories, he shared that he’d also be interested in studying the human experience in the pandemic.

“We’re really going to have to get educated about this over the next year and understand … how does it change peoples’ behaviour and how should we have minimised this?” he said.

He called Fauci and Francis Collins, the top boss at the National Institutes of Health, “smart” and “wonderful people” and he’s excited to see them have the opportunity to speak truthfully and effectively about science under President Joe Biden’s new administration.

“I’m excited about the team that Biden has picked” to handle the health crisis, Gates said.