Ted Nugent is trending on Twitter right now. And it’s not because of the singer-songwriter’s music.

When Nugent appeared on a video posted April 7 on Facebook Live, he didn’t really talk much about his song “Cat Scratch Fever.” Instead, he offered his thoughts about something else that can cause a fever and can potentially send you to the hospital and kill you: Covid-19. After all, you’ve probably been wondering all this time, “gee, I really want to know what Ted Nugent has to say about Covid-19.” Well, the Facebook Live video offered a bargain, a 19-for-one. Nugent didn’t just talk about Covid-19. He talked about Covid 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, as well.

Scroll to around the 2:20 mark in the video and you’ll hear Nugent ask, “You know, I guess I would ask you, because 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 one through 18?”

You must be wondering how the heck did you miss all those Covids? Did the world have a bunch of pandemics and not invite you? Has this been the 18-year-old mother of all cover ups:

When Nugent said one through 18, he couldn’t have meant that there have been 18 other Covids just like Covid-19, could he?

Oh, but looks like he did. To emphasize his point he then added: “Covid-1 — and there was a Covid 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 — Covid one through 18 didn’t shut anything down but woah, Covid-19!” Yep, Nugent counted it all out for you.

Hmm, if your common-sense meter believes that there have been 18 other pandemics then it may need a little re-calibrating. The “19” in “Covid-19” doesn’t stand for the 19th Covid or the 19th pandemic caused by coronaviruses. That would be like saying that the Philadelphia 76ers came after 75 other basketball franchises in the City of Brotherly Love. Or that the song Summer of ’69 was preceded by 68 other such songs. The similar thing would apply to some other reasons you may use the number 69. (By the way, the Summer of ’69 may not have actually been about the year 1969.)


If you are about truth, logic, and common sense, just go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website where you’ll find the following rationale for the Covid-19 name: “the disease caused by the virus was named Covid-19 (COronVIrusDisease-2019) to show that it was discovered in 2019.” Indeed, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) first emerged in the year right before 2020, which happened to be 2019. The virus bears the name SARS-CoV2 because the virus is similar to but not the same as the original SARS virus that first emerged in 2002.

He went on to ask why “didn’t we shut down” for the AIDS epidemic or the flu or “the Spanish flu.” Well, actually, Mr. Nugent, the U.S. did “shut down” for the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was previously referred to as “The Spanish flu,” before the World Health Organization (WHO) established new approaches to naming new diseases that wouldn’t end up stigmatizing groups of people or countries. Getting the seasonal flu is not the same as getting Covid-19. Your immune system is not used to and prepared for the SARS-CoV2 whereas your immune system is much more familiar with the influenza virus through flu vaccines every year or other previous exposure. And AIDS is very different from Covid-19. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not spread by coughing, sneezing, or breathing.

Nugent also questioned the fact that over 500,000 people in the U.S. have already died from Covid-19. He said, “I believe that medical examiners in all 50 states have gone, ‘ah I put down on the death certificate that he died of asphyxiation but they made me put Covid.’” He proceeded with other “examples” without providing any real evidence supporting them: “Well, this guy was stabbed to death but they made me put down Covid. This guys was run over by a tandem gravel truck doing a four-wheel drift and the crows be pecking at your flesh but they made me put down Covid-19.’”

Umm, why in the world would a medical examiner be forced to list a stab wound death as a Covid-19 death? Is Nugent suggesting that medical examiners around the world are somehow coordinating with each other in a massive conspiracy? To what end? Heck, some medical examiners can’t even coordinate their own clothes.

Now, not everyone may know who Nugent is as evidenced by the following tweet that asked “What is a Ted Nugent”:

A Ted Nugent is not a scientist. A Ted Nugent is not a medical professional. A Ted Nugent is not a public health expert. He is a guy with opinions about the pandemic that don’t seem to be coinciding with scientific facts.

This wasn’t the first time Nugent’s has made some eyebrow raising comments. For example, according to Tom Lyons writing for the Florida Times Union, Nugent previously said, “foreigners are scum. I don’t like ‘em. I don’t want ‘em in this country. I don’t want ‘em selling me doughnuts.  I don’t want ’em pumping my gas.” That’s not very cool. The big question is what does Nugent have against doughnuts?