Marc Bernier Radio Show/YouTube
August 31, 2021, 1:12 pm
Another in a series of outspoken right-wing anti-vaxxers and COVID-deniers with a platform large enough for people to notice has died from COVID-19. The latest victim is 65-year-old Marc Bernier, a Florida-based host of a conservative radio talk show on which he had dubbed himself “Mr. Anti-Vax.”
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Bernier passed away in the hospital after fighting COVID for nearly four weeks and after 30 years as the host of The Marc Bernier Show, which aired every weekday for three hours in the Daytona Beach area. He is the third anti-vaccine radio show host who had explicitly stated he was refusing the vaccine and encouraged others to follow suit to die of the illness in the space of a month.
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The Florida man had called himself “Mr. Anti-Vax” during an on-air conversation in December with Sports Network International Vice President Justin Gates about the COVID-19 vaccine in which he explicitly stated “I’m not taking it.”
“Are you kidding me? Mr. Anti-Vax? Jeepers,” said Bernier. He further confirmed that his position on this was permanent.
Bernier’s final tweet before going silent at the end of July was to accuse the U.S. government of “acting like Nazis” in response to a post from Democratic candidate for Florida governor Nikki Fried reminding people that others have had to sacrifice much more for the common good than getting a vaccine.
“The greatest generation had to defeat the Nazis to preserve our way of life, you’re only being asked to get a shot,” Fried wrote. “So be a patriot. Turn off the TV and go get vaccinated.”
“Should say, ‘Now the US Government is acting like Nazi’s [sic]. Get the shot!’” Bernier said in a quote tweet.
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The late host’s Twitter account has been deleted following his death.
After spending a week off-air due to illness, Bernier was admitted to the hospital on August 7. There were no updates to be found on his condition until the announcement on Saturday that he had died.
The state of Florida is currently leading the nation in the number of COVID-19 cases per capita, recording 20,968 new cases on the same day that Bernier’s death was announced. In the past week, Florida has endured an average of over 250 deaths from the illness every day. The state’s vaccination rates are one of the lowest in the country, with only 52 percent of eligible adults being fully vaccinated.
A week before the announcement of Bernier’s passing, another right-wing radio host, Phil Valentine of Nashville, Tennessee, died from COVID complications after many months of expressing doubts around the safety of the vaccine. He issued a statement from his hospital bed days before his bed recanting this hesitancy and urging his listeners to get vaccinated, but it was too late for him.
On August 4, another 65-year-old right-wing Florida radio host as well as a Newsmax anchor, Dick Farrel, similarly died of COVID-19 after promoting anti-vaxxer sentiments from his platforms but reportedly encouraged his loved ones to get the vaccine shortly before passing.
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“COVID took one of my best friends! RIP Dick Farrel,” wrote Amy Leigh Hair on Facebook. “He is the reason I took the shot. 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!’”
*First Published: August 31, 2021, 1:12 pm
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