"Hollywood BANNED!" - Uncensored History of Aztecs, Conquistadors & Cannibals | Will Brown • 421
Julian Dorey · 13 May 2026 · 2h 47m
Guest: Will Brown · Host: Joey Def, Julian Dorey
A YouTube historian and former history teacher who now lives in Puerto Rico joins the host to talk about his work retelling the story of first contact between the Spanish and Mesoamerican civilizations, largely through AI-generated visuals. He explains why he leans heavily on primary sources like Hernán Cortés's letters and Bernal Díaz's chronicles, arguing that despite obvious self-interest and embellishment, the conquistadors' own writings remain the richest record of what happened, including their own accounts of massacres like Cholula and the destruction of Tenochtitlan. The conversation moves through specific conquistador stories: the Amazon expedition of Orellana, the murderous rebellion of Lope de Aguirre, the ill-fated De Soto expedition, and the more sympathetic figure of Cabeza de Vaca, who wandered as a healer among native tribes and later advocated against enslaving them. They discuss why Hollywood has avoided dramatizing this period despite its cinematic potential, and debate the ethics of AI replacing human actors versus using it for documentary-style storytelling. A long tangent covers lunar standstill cycles, native astronomical observation sites in Colorado, economic cycle theories tied to figures like W.D. Gann and Ray Dalio, and questions about simulation theory, determinism, and free will. The discussion also turns to modern gene-editing controversies, drawing parallels between historical conquest and current fears about biotechnology creating new inequalities. The episode closes mid-story, with Cortés's downfall and the fall of Tenochtitlan promised for a follow-up conversation.
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What comes up
Timestamps link into the episode on YouTube.
- Guest's move to Puerto Rico
- Using AI to recreate conquistador history
- Why Hollywood avoids the Aztec-Spanish story
- The Cholula Massacre
- Amazon expedition and Orellana
- Lope de Aguirre, the 'craziest conquistador'
- De Soto expedition and Juan Ortiz
- Columbian Exchange and Spain's golden era
- Cabeza de Vaca as wandering healer
- Simulation theory, free will, and faith
- CRISPR babies and genetic engineering ethics
- Fall of Tenochtitlan and La Noche Triste
Said on this episode
Quoted from the auto-generated transcript, which mishears names and technical terms. podcite.com reports what a show said; it does not endorse or fact-check it.
“I have never seen any evidence that shows that the Spanish were any different than the Romans or anyone else in history.”
“The Spanish conquest of the New World, in my opinion, is the most impactful thing that's happened in history to date.”
“They boiled his feet in oil. Torturing him trying to get out, you know, where's the gold?”