Ted Nugent Reveals COVID-19 Diagnosis and Symptoms After Calling Virus a ‘Scam’

Ted Nugent has revealed that he was diagnosed with COVID-19 after experiencing symptoms of the illness, following comments he made calling the virus a “scam.” During a Facebook Live stream, the right-wing rocker shared that he “tested positive” for coronavirus and referred to it as “the Chinese s—.” He went on note his hoarse voice and added, “Everybody told me I should not announce this, but can you hear it? I have had flu symptoms for the last 10 days that have just, I thought I was dying.”

Nugent stated that his symptoms have included “stuffed-up head” and “body aches.” He added, “My God, what a pain in the ass. I literally can hardly crawl out of bed the last few days. But I did, I crawled.” Nugent’s diagnosis is quite ironic, considering PEOPLE points out that he previously called COVID-19 a “leftist scam to destroy” former President Donald Trump. “It’s not a real pandemic, and that’s not a real vaccine,” he later stated publicly. “I’m sorry.”

In his new Facebook Live stream, Nugent may have acknowledged the reality of the virus, but he continued to peddle untrue claims about the vaccine. “Nobody knows what’s in it,” he falsely stated. “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?”

Nugent also has repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus attack,” which is a racist talking point that was often used by Trump. Coincidentally, Trump has diverged from Nugent’s stance and is encouraging people to get vaccinated. “I would recommend it, 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,” Trump said in a recent appearance on Fox News, “and we have our freedoms, and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also.”

To date, the United States has had more than 30 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 567,000 deaths. According to data from the New York Times, the number of cases has decreased drastically since the vaccine rollout began. Per a report from Our World In Data, more than 200 million Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and over 85 million are fully vaccinated.