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, 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 Farrel had written to her from the 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.