Doug Kuzma also peddled QAnon conspiracy theories and election fraud lies
An anti-vax podcaster in the US has died from complications due to Covid after he caught the virus at a conspiracy theory conference.
Doug Kuzma, from Newport News, Virginia, died on January 3 after being hospitalised 10 days earlier. He broadcasted his podcasts on the FROG News network, which stands for ‘Fully Rely On God.’
Along with other podcasters in the network, the 61-year-old pushed a variety of conspiracy theories such as QAnon and baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election.
Vice reports that Kuzma had attended the ReAwaken America conference in Dallas on the weekend of 11 December. He had posted pictures on his Facebook page from the conference showing packed rooms of people with no masks or social distancing.
The event featured appearances from some of the biggest conspiracy theorists on the planet, such as disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and former US President Donald Trump’s son, Eric.
Unsurprisingly, it became a superspreader event, with people who attended claiming that they’d been targeted by a biological weapon such as anthrax.
It's dangerous to be far right:
Doug Kuzma, 61, Newport News, VA, Right wing podcaster, dead from COVID pic.twitter.com/DoigKWUqJ6— grand danois 🇩🇰🌻 (@AageWinther) January 6, 2022
Related links:
- Jimmy Carr slaps down anti-vaxxer in crowd with brutal one-line dig
- Leading British anti-vaxxer hospitalised with covid
- Anti-vaxxers storm Covid testing centre and trash equipment in ‘disgraceful’ protest
When someone commented on one of Kuzma’s posts that he should get a Covid test, he replied “No way” before saying: “You must have lost your mind, so they can kill me, and try and give me the jab. I’ll die at the house before I go to the hospital.”
After five days of fever, Kuzma admitted that he had contracted Covid, and was then found unconscious at his house on Christmas Eve.
Lin Wood announces yet another QAnon conference, anti-vaccine attendee is in the hospital with covid. This time it’s Q podcaster Doug Kuzma. The conference headlined by Eric Trump and Michael Flynn was called, ‘Reawaken America,’ filled with covid and vaccine conspiracies. pic.twitter.com/qxLfI7gPmB
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 25, 2021
According to a fellow member of FROG News, the final message Kuzma sent was a photo of himself with ​​a “refill of ivermectin“.
Kuzma had also appeared on podcasts with fellow FROG News member Mike Penny, a man who was central in helping promote the QAnon offshoot cult that traveled to Dallas in November under the belief that former President John F. Kennedy and his son were about to reappear.
Kuzma is the latest anti-vaxxer or Covid-sceptic to die from the virus. These include the boss of a Christian television network, a rightwing radio host who described Dr Anthony Fauci as a “power-tripping lying freak”, another radio host who said his chances of dying from the virus were “less than one percent”, and the leader of the Texas anti-mask movement.
