Musician Ted Nugent Ask Why There Wasn't a Lockdown for 'COVID 1-18'
On Wednesday, famed musician Ted Nugent turned to Facebook Live to voice some of his lingering questions and concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, he wants to know why there was no shut down for "COVID 1-18."
He recorded the video on April 7, lamenting the cancellation of his upcoming tour.
"You know, this year's tour is canceled again. Are you kidding me? The production companies won't let us tour again this year," he says, outraged.
He continues to call the production companies "dirty bastard, lying, scam, smoke-and-mirrors COVID-19 freaks."
Explaining his skepticism towards the pandemic more broadly, Nugent says, "I'm addicted to truth, logic, and common sense and my common sense meter would demand the answer to, 'Why weren't we shut down for COVID 1-18?'"
He continues, "There was a COVID-1, and there was a COVID-2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, -13, -14, -15, -16, -17, -18. COVID 1-18 didn't shut anything down. But whoa—COVID-19."
Nugent claims that the virus is "99.8% survivable"—but in that statistic, he does not account for how the virus disproportionately affects certain parts of the population, dependent on age and other factors.
"They claim five hundred thousand people have died from COVID-19," he says. "Bulls***."
Ted Nugent was live.
In these claims, Nugent appears to push a narrative that has become common amongst COVID deniers: that the number of COVID-related deaths has been falsely inflated.
He also asks why the country didn't shut down in response to the AIDS epidemic, the flu, or any number of other viruses.
Throughout the twelve-minute video, Nugent devolves into a discussion of other unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, including a "massive child sex-trafficking thing," before refocusing on his main point.
"The people who hate truth, logic, and common sense, the people who hate God, family, country, work ethic, you know, the high-tech goons...they suppress the hell out of this," Nugent says, referring to his Facebook Live videos.
"People think I'm crazy because I'm so alive," Nugent continues, "because I'm so passionate about life."
Concluding, he states, "I'm simply what God had in mind when he created us."
Nugent has made news in the past for being a vocal conservative and an avid Trump supporter. He is also notorious for his outspoken views on gun rights and unwavering support of the NRA. In 2018, he came under fire for reportedly mocking and insulting survivors of the Parkland school shooting.
