An anti-LGBTQ conservative talk radio host who openly mocked coronavirus vaccines died on Saturday from COVID-19.
“We are extremely sad to report that our host and friend Phil Valentine has passed away,” wrote SuperTalk 99.7 on Twitter. “Please keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers.”
BREAKING: Conservative Radio Host Phil Valentine has died of COVID after a long battle 😷
He had recently made a parody song mocking the vaccine, but tried to encourage vaccines from his hospital bed. pic.twitter.com/GIIPGl0Syg
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 21, 2021
Just days before he was hospitalized with the virus, Valentine had shared a parody song he’d made mocking vaccines.
Here’s “Vaxman”, the song parody of the Beatles “Taxman” conservative radio host Phil Valentine made mocking the vaccine just a few days ago.
He is now reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19. 😷 pic.twitter.com/3b5rzVdzqb
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) July 21, 2021
The radio host’s brother, Mark Valentine, said in a statement in July that his brother had “never been an ‘anti-vaxer'” but after contracting the virus “regrets not being more vehemently ‘Pro-Vaccine.'”
But in December, Valentine told his followers in a since-deleted tweet he wouldn’t be getting vaccinated because in his estimation he had “a very low risk of A) getting COVID, and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?”
In April, he retweeted a post about “Forced inoculation of an experimental vaccine,” insinuating the government would forcibly inject people with COVID-19 vaccines.
In his tweet, Valentine wrote he “just had to let you see this.” He added, “It should scare the hell out of everybody.”
Note: the Food and Drug Administration granted the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine full approval today.
At this writing, the Tennessee Department of Health reports only 41 percent of those eligible for the shot in the state are fully vaccinated.
I'm avoiding Twitter, but I just had to let you see this. It should scare the hell out of everybody. https://t.co/OIv3lV4jmZ
— Phil Valentine (@ValentineShow) April 13, 2021
Valentine also had a history of opposing LGBTQ rights like same-sex marriage.
During an on-air discussion about marriage equality, he compared marriage between to men to incest.
“The problem is the slippery slope, of course,” Valentine said in 2013. “And when I say this to folks, they say, ‘Oh! That’s ridiculous!’ But how can anybody that supports gay marriage sit there and say that they’d be against a father marrying his daughter if it’s a consensual relationship?”
In 2017, he penned a futuristic novel called The God Players which imagined a world where scientists discover a way to know in advance if a baby would be gay and how to change the child to straight while still in the womb.
Hey Valentine, the elevator that you are on only goes one direction and that is, down ⬇️⬇️⬇️🖕
Karma in it’s finest.