TED NUGENT: Why I Decided To Go Public With My COVID-19 Battle

Ted Nugent has once again denied ever saying COVID-19 was a hoax — almost a year after he said the virus was "not a real pandemic."

The outspoken conservative rocker, a staunch supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump, fired back at critics seven months after announcing he had contracted the novel coronavirus.

Nugent, who tested positive for COVID-19 in April, discussed his battle with the disease in a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station. Asked why he chose to go public with the fact that he had contracted COVID-19 when he knew that he would be blasted by "haters and detractors," Nugent said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "They have no influence on my life whatsoever. The haters and detractors are such idiots. Why would you want a fellow American to die? Why would you claim that I called it a hoax when I never even used the 'H' word. I've never used the word 'hoax.' I identified that [Dr. Anthony] Fauci [the nation’s top infectious disease expert] is a scam artist and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi is the devil and [former U.S. president] Barack Obama went to the Wuhan lab to use our tax dollars to create a weapon for the communist Chinese. I mean, that's not a Ted Nugent hunch; the evidence is irrefutable — unless you've got your head up Joe Biden's ass, which has really gotta be uncomfortable.

"The point is I'm an open guy," he continued. "I don't have anything to hide. I do a Ted Nugent 'Spirit Campfire' for the globe every Monday night on my Facebook and YouTube, and I do media every day. I'm not afraid of anything or anybody. When I have an experience, I like to share it with people. I'm a communicator. I've been doing radio interviews since 1963. You know when you have me on, it's a dialogue. I know it turned into a monologue for the most part, but you have me on and you asked me a question, so I'm gonna answer the damn thing.

"The point is the Wuhan weaponized virus is financed by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and punk-ass Fauci. It's a gain-of-function weapon. Everybody has got it or everybody's gonna get it — that's what 'gain of function' is. And it's a weaponized virus by the communist Chinese. If that's not proof that the worst threat against America is the U.S. government, I can't help you out. That's treason to a tee. And until we charge this government with treason, especially punk-ass Biden… What creature is that? What is that? I mean, I know people, I know human beings, but I don't know what that is.

"My point being is that I have the American DNA — it's called defiance," Ted added. "I question authority. That's what the founding fathers wanted all of us to be. And when you start acting like a sheep and obey illegal, immoral, anti-constitutional decrees, you are in the liability column. I'm in the asset column, and that pisses punks off, and I couldn't be more proud, I tell you. I dance — I dance the more these punks hate me, because it proves I'm so wonderful."

According to USA Today's fact-check article published in May 2020, "it is misleading to claim that the Obama administration gave funding to a Chinese research institute. It is true that funds were provided to a project where an American research group worked alongside a Chinese organization. Claims that the funding helped produce the pandemic are unsubstantiated. A total of $3.7 million was not given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, only about $600,000." The article also noted: "The grant was provided by the National Institutes of Health to EcoHealth Alliance, a research group that tracks emerging diseases. The grant is directly overseen by the NIH, and it continued under the Trump administration until it was recently rescinded."

The lab-leak theory says the virus was spread from a research facility in Wuhan, the city where the contagion was first reported. The theory remains unsubstantiated, and China has repeatedly rejected it. According to a an article published by The Washington Post on Thursday (November 18),new research strongly suggests the virus spread to humans from animals at the Huanan Seafood Market, several miles from the lab.

In April, Nugent talked about the darkest days of his battle with COVID-19, saying that he had "never been so scared" in his entire life. The 72-year-old pro-gun activist said: "It was really scary. I didn't think I was gonna make it. I literally couldn't function for about 20 hours, and then they came and they rescued me… The six-foot-two, 225-pound headache [this time] was like nothing I have ever experienced. I mean, from my tip of my toes to the top of my hair, I literally was dizzy and weak and struggled to get up to go to the bathroom. And I would lay in the bathtub a couple of times a day with the water as hot as I could take it just to divert."

Ted also said that he was being treated for COVID-19 by a group of doctors who made a video last year calling for the use of hydroxychloroquine to battle the novel coronavirus, despite warnings from public health experts. Nugent went on to detail his clinical management of COVID-19, saying he was taking hydroxychloroquine, "a proven drug for 65 years," as well as ivermectin, "another proven drug."

In the past, Nugent had referred to the virus as a "leftist scam to destroy" Donald Trump. He had also repeated a narrative pushed by conservative media and disputed by health experts that suggests the official death count from the coronavirus is inflated.

Last December, Nugent expressed skepticism that coronavirus was as dangerous as health officials said it was, calling it a "scamming pandemic" and vowing not to take any vaccine.

"It's not a real pandemic and that's not a real vaccine. I'm sorry, I ain't taking no vaccine," Nugent said in a Facebook Live stream.

"You come at me with a needle and I will be in fear of my life. You know what I'll do if you come at me with a needle. 'Hi, I'm from the government. This needle's good for you.' Fuck you."

Nugent has also mocked people who wear face masks, despite that both the CDC and World Health Organization have urged their universal use.