Singer-songwriter Ted Nugent, who used to consider the pandemic a “hoax,” has been tested positive for COVID-19.
The 72-year old pro-gun political activist took to Facebook Live on Monday to reveal his COVID-19 diagnosis, while perpetuating anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and racist language toward the AAPI community, according to PEOPLE.
Nugent said in the video, “I was tested positive today. I got the Chinese s***. Everybody told me I should not announce this, but can you hear it?”
Pointing out his hoarse voice, he said, “I have had flu symptoms for the last 10 days that have just, I thought I was dying.”
Referring to his symptoms as a “cluster***,” he said he experienced the “stuffed-up head” and “body aches.”
“My God, what a pain in the ass,” the Stranglehold singer continued. “I literally can hardly crawl out of bed the last few days. But I did, I crawled.”
Calling the coronavirus a “leftist scam” to destroy Trump, Nugent has always spread false information about the pandemic,”
Previously, he falsely argued, “It’s not a real pandemic and that’s not a real vaccine, I’m sorry.”
However, he continued to dig his feet in with false claims about the vaccine in his recent Facebook Live video.
He said, “Nobody knows what’s in it. If you can’t even honestly answer our questions of exactly what’s in it and why are you testing it on human beings and forcing it on people in such a short period of time?”
Last month, former President Donald Trump urged his followers to get vaccinated. “I would recommend it,” he said, “and I would recommend it to a lot of people who don’t want to get it and a lot of people who voted for me, frankly, and we have our freedoms, and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also.”
Nugent also used to say that the pandemic is the “Chinese virus attack.” His hate-filled video has come after a recent report found a 150% increase in hate crimes against the AAPI community in major cities in the United States over the past year, according to PEOPLE. Recently, the CDC said that more than half of the U.S. population received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday.
