Legendary musician and notorious conspiracy theorist Ted Nugent went to Facebook Live on Wednesday to speak his mind on a number of unfounded claims, including a bizarre rant about an imaginative idea he refers to as COVID-1 through -18.
“Why were there no shutdowns for COVID-1 through -18?” the guitarist said as he ranted about his tour plans getting cancelled. "COVID-1 through -18 didn’t shut anything down, but whoa, COVID-19, even though it’s 99.8 percent survivable. Why didn’t we shut down for the AIDS epidemic or the flu or the Spanish Flu or the bird flu or the West Nile flu or influenza every year?”
The concept has, of course, never been heard of. But Nugent is convinced that he has it all figured out.
"I’m addicted to truth, logic and common sense, and my common sense meter would demand the answer," said the conspiracy theorist, who hasn't realized that the 19 in COVID-19 represents the year in which the virus was discovered.
The self-described truth-teller said he will not wait for authorization from anybody to resume his tour.
"We are not waiting for authorization from any bureaucratic entity to say 'you can go ahead and tour now,'" he said. "The production companies won't let us tour again this year. Are you kidding me? Dirty, lying, scam, smoking mirrors, COVID-19 freaks."
Nugent also dug deep into his bag of theories to dispute the data which reveals that more than 500,000 people have died from COVID-19. According to the artist's argument, the number is only high because medical examiners have been forced to write down false information in their reports
"Bulls**t," he said about the data. "I believe that medical examiners in all 50 states have gone ‘I put down on the death certificate that he died of asphyxiation, but they made me put COVID.’ ‘Well, this guy was stabbed to death, but they made me put down COVID.’ ‘This guy was run over by a tandem gravel truck doing a four-wheel drift and the crows be pecking at your flesh, but they made me put down COVID-19.'”
Coincidentally the rock-and-roller is inspired by Alex Jones, another infamous conspiracy theory guru.
"You can make fun of Alex Jones all you want. This guy is a truth, logic, common sense, we the people, honesty — he confronts the most evil perpetrators," Nugent said while announcing that he will appear on the conservative pundit's show.
According to Blabbermouth, the outspoken conservative is also close with former president Donald Trump and his family, another group who is well-known for downplaying the severity of the pandemic. The guitarist joined Donald Trump Jr. on the campaign trail last year as they aimed to bring victory for the former president in the 2020 election.
In his previous Facebook Live videos, Nugent doubted the effectiveness of masks and expressed skepticism about the vaccine. As Blavity previously reported, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently fought back against skepticism of the vaccine, particularly addressing the concerns for Black people.
"Me, as Black person, I get it," Jean-Pierre told Blavity. "I get the very complicated and scary history that the Black American community has had with the system. But I can say this: I've gotten fully vaccinated, Vice President Harris has gotten fully vaccinated. It is so critical and key and important for all of us to get vaccinated."
Nugent also questioned the leadership of Joe Biden in his previous Facebook video.
"Would you let Joe Biden shovel the s**t in your dog kennel?" he asked. "Because I wouldn't. If that's offensive, then what is he doing? I am incapable of the offensiveness of our government right now. I don't have that depth of evil and dishonesty. So there's nothing I say that can be anywhere near as offensive as to what they're doing every day. Abandoning and destroying the American culture of we the people, pursuit of excellence. Open borders. Giving benefits to invaders, but not our vets. Pure evil."
