4 Anti-Vax Shock Jocks Die From COVID Weeks Apart

Four conservative radio talk-show hosts that were self-proclaimed anti-vaxxers have died after contracting COVID-19 only weeks apart from each other.

The most recent was Marc Bernier, 65, who told his listeners on his talk-radio program in Daytona Beach, Florida, that he was “Mr. Anti-Vax” back in December 2020 when the COVID vaccine was first authorized for administration to Americans, the Washington Post reported.

In August, WNDB, the station that Bernier’s program aired on, told listeners he was being treated in a hospital for COVID.

WNDB issued a statement on Saturday announcing his death that read in part, “It’s with great sadness that WNDB and Southern Stone Communications announce the passing of Marc Bernier. Marc informed and entertained listeners on WNDB for over 30 years while enjoying a successful 46-year career as a broadcast journalist. He will be missed by many friends, family members, and colleagues.”

Prior to Bernier’s death, Phil Valentine, 61, Jimmy DeYoung, 81, and Dick Farrel, 65, -all radio hosts that denounced the COVID vaccine on-air - died after contracting the virus.

Valentine, a popular shock jock in Tennessee on WTN in Nashville, who used a song parody to form his viewpoint called “Vaxman” based on the Beatles tune “Taxman,” died on Aug. 21.

Farrel, who had worked for stations in Miami and Palm Beach, Florida as well as the Newsmax TV channel and had notoriously called the nation’s leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci a “power-tripping lying freak,” died on Aug. 4, according to the Post.

And DeYoung, a nationally syndicated Christian preacher, who hosted “Prophecy Today” and had asked a guest on-air if the vaccine rollout was “another form of government control of the people,” died on Aug. 15, the Post said.

While the four hosts were hardcore opposers of the COVID vaccine, near death at least two of the radio jockeys urged listeners to get vaccinated before they died.

Valentine’s brother, Mark Valentine, went on air on his behalf, 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.’”

Mark also issued a similar statement to The Tennessean on his brother’s behalf.

Valentine’s family also issued a statement that said that Valentine had remorse about the COVID vaccines he had mocked on air.

The statement from the family, obtained by the Post, read, “Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an ‘anti-vaxer’ he regrets not being more vehemently ‘pro-vaccine,’ and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon,” as reported by the Post.

Farrel also had a change of heart about vaccinations, his longtime friend Amy Leigh Hair told the Post.

She said: “When he got very sick, he texted me and said, ‘This pandemic ain’t no joke. Get the shot’ He definitely admitted he hadn’t taken it seriously. At the end of the day, he was sorry about that. I know he changed his mind at the end.”

To date over 174 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 52.4% of the U.S. population.

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