Anti-vaccine radio host in Florida dies of Covid-19 at age 65

Farrel told friends ‘I wish I had gotten it’ after previously mocking vaccines and calling Covid-19 a ‘scamdemic’

A right-wing radio host who called vaccines “bogus bull shid” had a change of heart after being hospitalised with Covid-19, friends say.

Dick Farrel, 65, a former Newsmax host and pioneer of the shock jock genre, died on Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, from complications relating to Covid-19.

Prior to getting sick, Mr Farrel wrote on Facebook that Dr Anthony Fauci was a “power tripping lying freak”, mocked vaccines and referred to the pandemic that has taken more than 600,000 American lives as a “scamdemic”.

His close friend Amy Leigh Hair said that Mr Farrel had written to her from hospital begging her to get vaccinated.

“He texted me and told me to ‘Get it!’ He told me this virus is no joke and he said, ‘I wish I had gotten it!’”

His partner Kit Farley said he “fought like a tiger”, and pleaded with people not to put off “getting attention for this illness”.

“He was known as the other Rush Limbaugh. With a heavy heart, I can only say this was so unexpected. He will be missed,” she wrote on Facebook.

Radio veteran Dick Farrel has passed. pic.twitter.com/dxxPcKSQHA

— T.A. Walker (@timallanwalker) August 6, 2021

Another friend, Mick McCabe, told WPTV: “Dick was a pioneer ‘shock talk’ host, certainly here in South Florida, and a loyal friend both personally and to listeners here for decades.”

The Delta variant has ravaged Florida, which now makes up one fifth of all new Covid-19 cases in the United States.

On Thursday, it reported a new record of 22,783 cases.