Dick Farrel, a conservative radio/TV presenter and vocal critic of vaccines, has died after contracting COVID-19.
Throughout the pandemic, Farrel made headlines in the United States for being a strong critic of President Biden’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Anthony Fauci.
Labelling the medical officer a “power-tripping lying freak”, Farrel urged his audience not to take the COVID-19 vaccine as the virus was nothing more than a “scamdemic”.
On his Facebook page, the media personality called the vaccine a “bogus bull shid!” because it did not stop two people he knew from contracting the virus.
However, reports say that Farrel’s opinions changed in the final few days of his life.
Mick McCabe, a friend of Farrel’s, said that the radio presenter suffered from the disease for three weeks before passing away.
Dick Farrel: I was wrong, get vaccinated https://t.co/wn5Okqfb9X
— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) August 8, 2021
According to the late broadcaster’s friend, Amy Leigh Hair, Farrel texted her while he was in the hospital.
“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!” Hair wrote in a Facebook post.
When speaking with WPTV (a local news station in Farrel’s former residence of Palm Beach, Florida), Hair explained the impact that Farrel’s words had on her.
“I was one of … the people like him who didn’t trust the vaccine. I trusted my immune system. I just became more afraid of getting COVID-19 than I was of any possible side effects of the vaccine. I’m glad I got vaccinated,” Hair said.
Kit Farley, Farrel’s partner, also took to Facebook to share the news of Farrel’s death.
“He fought like a tiger. Please don’t put off getting attention for this illness … Yes, for some it has minimal effects, but others it is deadly,” Farley wrote.
Reba McEntire, 66, vaccinated, gets COVID: “it’s not fun. You don’t feel good.”
Dick Farrel, 65, unvaccinated, gets COVID: dies.
Get vaccinated.https://t.co/EzLaoNOU4L
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) August 8, 2021
After graduating from Queens College, Dick Farrel began his radio career undertaking “fill-in work at stations on Long Island” before moving to the radio station, WVIP FM in Westchester, New York.
Years later, he moved to West Palm Beach in Florida to work at several radio stations as an on-air personality.
He was also an anchor for the conservative news channel, Newsmax TV.
Farrel was 65.
