Topline
Rock musician Ted Nugent, an outspoken coronavirus denier and conspiracy theorist who has refused to take the vaccine, announced he has tested positive for Covid-19, acknowledging he has been suffering greatly from flu-like symptoms for the past ten days, declaring: “I thought I was dying.”
Ted Nugent sings the “Star Spangled Banner” during a campaign rally for President Donald Trump at ... [+]
Key Facts
Nugent, 72, posted a nearly nine-minute video to Facebook Monday evening using racist slurs to refer to Covid-19, as he explains that he’s been dealing with body aches, a “stuffed-up head” and other ailments.
“I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days,” Nugent conceded.
Yet, Nugent spends part of the video ranting about the ineffectiveness of vaccines and spreading conspiracy theories.
Key Background:
Nugent, a staunch supporter of ex-President Donald Trump, has denied even the existence of the pandemic over the past year. “It’s not a real pandemic, and that’s not a real vaccine,” he said during a Facebook live video last Christmas. In August, he parroted a debunked conservative conspiracy theory by claiming the official Covid-19 death count was falsely inflated. “They are lying. The CDC? Liars. The FBI? Liars. USDA? Liars. . . . You cannot trust any of the government’s alphabet bureaucracies,” Nugent claimed, adding that “America will not trust the United States government” until top Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are “in jail.”
Crucial Quote:
“I guess I would ask you, because I’m addicted to truth, logic and common sense, and my common sense meter would demand the answer to: Why weren’t we shut down for Covid 1 through 18?” Nugent said last Monday on Facebook, apparently unaware the “19” is for 2019, the year the virus was first discovered.
Tangent:
Last week, Chelsea Clinton called on former President Trump to “the right thing” and release photos of himself getting vaccinated, which, she argued, would encourage Republicans, who are disproportionately hesitant to be immunized, to get the shot. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll released last month found that 49% of Republicans said they would refuse to get a Covid vaccine.
Big Number:
567,755. That’s the number of Americans who have been killed by the coronavirus, as of Tuesday morning, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Further Reading:
Chelsea Clinton Calls On Trump To Release Photos Of Himself Being Vaccinated (Forbes)
Days after calling it BS, Ted Nugent says he's been battling COVID-19: 'I thought I was dying' (MLive)
