Posted on 08/22/21
| News Source: Daily Beast
A conservative radio host in Nashville who derided vaccines and spread misinformation about the coronavirus has died of COVID-19. Phil Valentine was 61.
Though Valentine downplayed the efficacy of vaccines and even went so far as to record a parody song mocking them, he reversed his opinion while in the hospital, advising his family members to get the jab.
He had said of the vaccine, “I have a very low risk of A) Getting COVID and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?” He also said at the time that he had been taking the anti-parasite medication ivermectin, a drug that comes in different forms for animals and humans. The drug has recently been touted as a sort of COVID miracle cure by conservatives, despite no solid evidence it is effective against the virus and health officials sounding the alarm over people poisoning themselves with the animal version of the drug.
Valentine hosted a regular talk radio show on 99.7 WWTN-FM in Nashville. His station wrote in a statement, “We are saddened to report that our host and friend Phil Valentine has passed away. Please keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers.”
He had been on the air since the 1990s.
His brother Mark, appearing on the same station late last month, pleaded with listeners to take the threat of COVID seriously, saying, “For those listening, I know if he were able to tell you this, he would tell you, ‘Go get vaccinated. Quit worrying about the politics. Quit worrying about all the conspiracy theories.’”