- Herschel Walker questioned the existence of human evolution during a recent event.
- Walker poised that if "there are still apes" then one of the main theories of modern science must be bunk.
- But evolution does not suggest that humans evolved from apes. The two shared a common ancestor millions of years ago.
Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker expressed skepticism over evolution during a recent event at a Georgia church, questioning whether such a thing can be real based on the current existence of apes.
"At one time, science said man came from apes, did it not? … If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it," Walker said in an appearance at Sugar Hill Church in Georgia on Sunday, The Huffington Post first reported his remarks.
Walker is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Raphael Warnock this November, a marquee race in Republicans' quest to retake the US Senate. A Georgia football legend, Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, is viewed as the frontrunner in the GOP primary. Former President Donald Trump recruited Walker to run in the race. The former football star has also received an increased welcoming from more traditional GOP figures like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Walker's claim echoes one of the biggest misunderstandings of evolution that has plagued scientists and biologists since Charles Darwin first made his theory. The theory does not state that humans descended from apes or chimpanzees or any other related animal that is alive today. Rather, humans and apes shared a common ancestor millions of years ago.
"Asking why modern chimps don't look more like humans is like asking why the children of your cousins don't look more like you than their parents. They're on an entirely different evolutionary path," The Washington Post wrote in 2016.
While the fossil record isn't complete, scientists continue to discover common ancestors between humans and monkeys. In fact, the record has supported some of Darwin's original assumptions, including that the common ancestor between humans and apes lived in Africa. But as Scientific America explained in 2020, evolution is far messier than Darwin could have foreseen because there is no single "missing link" between humans and apes.
A spokesperson for Walker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.