Following Meat Loaf’s death last week, radio host Howard Stern is calling on the late singer’s family to speak out in support of Covid-19 vaccines, saying the singer “made a mistake” by not getting vaccinated.
Although TMZ initially reported that Meat Loaf had been “seriously ill with Covid,” those statements haven’t been confirmed and it’s still unknown if he actually contracted the virus, and whether or not he was vaccinated.
Meat Loaf, however, was vocal about his opposition to Covid mandates, stating in an August 2021 interview, “I hug people in the middle of COVID. I understood stopping life for a little while, but they cannot continue to stop life because of politics. And right now they’re stopping because of politics.” The singer added: “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.”
Speaking on the rock icon’s death, Howard Stern continued his ongoing rhetoric condemning anti-vaxxers, saying on a recent episode of his show: “Poor Meat Loaf got sucked into some weird f**king cult. And somehow really believed that – he made a statement, ‘I’d rather die a free man than take that vaccine.’ And now he’s dead!”
Highlighting Meat Loaf’s public comments against mandatory vaccination and essentially labeling him an anti-vaxxer, Stern addressed the late singer’s family, saying they should publicly support vaccines in light of the singer’s death.
“I wish the family would come forward and say, ‘Ya know, when Meat Loaf was laying there in the hospital and he couldn’t breathe, he said, ‘I made a mistake. I should have taken the vaccine.’ Like all these anti-vaxxers, they all say, ‘I made a mistake.’”
Stern has been extremely vocal about his support for Covid vaccines and has shamed anyone questioning them, including the likes of Joe Rogan and Novak Djokovic. He has even gone as far as to say “if it was up to me, anyone unvaccinated would not be admitted to a hospital.”
“It’s time for you to get it. Now, if you don’t get it, in my America, all hospitals would be closed to you,” Stern said last week. “You’re going to go home and die. That is what you should get. Absolutely."