As a child of the 80s who watched Love Connection and The Dating Game with my mother every week, it was disheartening to see host Chuck Woolery tweeting conspiracy theories. It is like all the “cool white people” from the 80s and 90s are turning out to be closet racists and tin hat enthusiasts.
What’s tragic about Woolery specifically was his belief that the Coronavirus was a hoax, until his son contracted it. It is becoming increasingly dangerous that people with a large audience are regurgitating this falsehood and refusing to look at scientific information that contradicts their beliefs.
Chuck became Twitter famous when the Cheeto in Chief retweeted his post that “everyone is lying about the coronavirus,” but deactivated his twitter account a day later after he confirmed his son’s positive coronavirus status.
Woolery, 79, first gained online attention on Sunday when President Donald Trump retweeted his tweet about “outrageous lies” surrounding coronavirus.
In a tweet that lives on digital archive websites, the former Wheel of Fortune host wrote: “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.”
Days after the claim, Woolery revealed that his son had been diagnosed with coronavirus, tweeting on Wednesday, “To further clarify and add perspective, Covid-19 is real and it is here.”
“My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for of those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones,” he said in a tweet, which was cached on an archival site.
A spokesperson for Woolery tells PEOPLE on Friday that the musician “temporarily suspended” his account because he “just wanted a break from it.”
The representative adds that Woolery’s son is “fine” and has “zero symptoms.”
Woolery briefly touched on his son’s diagnosis during Thursday’s episode of his podcast Blunt Force Truth, saying that he “never said Covid was a hoax” in his controversial tweet.
“There’s nowhere I used ‘hoax’ or ‘it’s not real’ or anything like that. I just said we’ve been lied to,” Woolery said. “My son has it, so hopefully he’s fine.”
It’s unclear when the episode was recorded.
I don’t know why people still believe this virus is a hoax. Do they honestly think that numbers are make-believe? Is everyone in on the conspiracy? Perhaps since the virus is impacting certain communities they just don’t know anyone who has had it or died from it.
It’s great that Chuck retracted his statement but his tweet had already been shared with all of Trump’s followers. He, in one tweet, legitimized the conspiracy theories. I hope going forward that celebrities will think twice about what they say because their shared views can have real consequences.
I do wish that Woolery’s son has a speedy recovery and I hope that Chuck has learned a massive lesson in the process. As far as those who still believe that coronavirus is a hoax, well, there’s not much I can do about that.
Life comes at you fast #ChuckWoolery People say his account is suspended for falsifying information about the virus. Wrong! He erased his account because he’s been blaming Democrats for the virus and downplaying it’s seriousness. Until… his own son got it. Karma is a bitch pic.twitter.com/jQ9S69MjOD
— Richie Mercado Rivera (@LouisRi77606493) July 16, 2020
The hard truth is that it didn’t have to be this bad, but Donald Trump ignored the experts and refused to take action. He has failed our nation. pic.twitter.com/WAhigUtsxz
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 19, 2020
Photos credit: Avalon.red and Getty
When someone asked if i thought my mom *really* died from the corona virus i replied
No, i think she’s on a tropical island drinking a margarita laughing at all of us suckers who believe on the disease.
Other option: doctors and nurses all over the world are engaging in cruelty for fun- by not allowing people to see their loved ones before they die and allowing the dying people to die completely alone. No loved ones, no friends. They can’t even see the faces of their nurses b/c of course nurses wear masks to protect from the hoax virus.
How can people actually believe that?
And i know it is unchristian and unkind- but i do enjoy the karma when a dumbass who believes it is a hoax gets slapped in the face with reality.
I just wish the hoax believers who test positive didn’t have the chance to murder other people who are just working at their damn jobs so they don’t get evicted and can feed their kids.
@Ariel, I am so sorry for your loss. I hope that you are able to find peace and that you are taking care of yourself.
Idiots like this one and all the rest like him can sit ALL THE WAY DOWN. I live in the suburbs of Houston, where it is scary AF and our HUGE medical center is on the brink of capacity. We’ve got refrigerated trucks rolling into every major city in Texas to handle overflow bodies from morgues and funeral homes and dummies like this one are mad that they can’t drink at bars or float the river.
I haven’t left my house except for groceries since March and am looking at the prospect of working from home while home-schooling my kids again in three weeks (because our district won’t change the start time from August 11…) and I’m grateful that I can do that. I am also furious that I have to.
And why do they put that orange idiot at the center of the universe? I guarantee that Spain, Italy, the UK, Australia, and the rest of the world are not participating in some elaborate scheme to lose him the presidency. He’s doing that all by himself because of his pathological inability to ever do the right thing, make a hard choice, listen to anyone who isn’t his own stupid ass, and take responsibility EVER.
Rant over. For now. I am so sorry for all those who have been directly affected by this disease and grateful for the contributions of front-line workers and essential personnel who have been bravely reporting for work. Thank you to everyone properly mask-wearing and social distancing. Everyone else can f*ck all the way off, Chuck included.
I’m so sorry Ariel.
These “hoax” comments are so cruel to those that have lost loved ones, to the medical community risking their lives to treat patients, and to all those who have gotten ill from it.
Someone posted a similar thing on my local health department’s page (this is a hox, you’ll all see after Election Day) and someone else replied sarcastically along the lines of “yes, clearly millions of people, every doctor, scientist, testing company, health department and millions of patients all around the world decided to organize and conspire to do this to get one guy out of office.” It’s pure insanity.
Ariel I am so very sorry for your loss. You are never ready to loose a parent and these circumstances are particularly awful.
I don’t think it’s tragic at all. I think all these conspiracy thinkers only digest in the abstract. And what do they tell their listeners when clear and present danger rings their doorbell? “I never said that…… It was taken out of context. I didn’t mean……” Or maybe they just go with it and blame someone for a targeted hit. They’re dangerous. They’re stupid. And I can only hope they get what’s coming sooner than later. It would be different if they apologized and proclaimed how terribly wrong they were. Do we EVER hear anything remotely close to real humility? That would be…no.
I work in public health and I am so tired. If this is fake, someone please pull the plug on this joke because we’re all exhausted down here at the bottom.
Same and same. I’m in Florida and it was getting better and I was naive and optimistic and now we’re back in a raging dumpster inferno and every day at work is exhausting physically and mentally and they’re pushing us to take higher acuity patients that we are not properly trained for because the ICUs and the ICU step downs are FULL. Then I get off work and I see all these morons not wearing masks and complaining about idiotic things and I just 😩. Like nurse burn out wasn’t an issue before
I used to work with a woman (not in healthcare) who is your typical religious anti-vax/anti-mask/essential oil “the protestors cause more virus spread than anyone else” wing nut and she tested positive. She was largely asymptomatic, and complained about having to wear a mask to get her hair done. WHEN SHE HAD COVID.
/endrant
“musician”? since when?
I had to look that one up. Turns out he had a legitimate music career in folk and country music in the 60s and 70s before he became an actor. Who knew?
“Who knew?”
I’m going to go with “no one”.
😉
It’s the people blessed to live in areas there isn’t a large outbreak. So since they see life in a silo they think it’s the same everywhere. As someone who lives near a hotspot please be safe. Even by me I see people being less vigilante with masks. Since it’s summer and they don’t want to wear them in the heat. This is not going away.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. His son is old enough to make up his own mind, and if he chose not to be careful and/or spend time with his Covidiot father, welp… 🤷🏻♀️
I honestly don’t understand how anyone with even the slightest amount of critical thinking skills can still think this is a hoax. That would mean that somehow all of these people got together, without any of us noticing, and planned this over the last however many years. That means the media, all medical personnel, the heads of countries all over the world and so on. It’s mind blowing to me. What would be the point of all of this? Who is benefiting from it? It’s frightening to think about the sheer number of people who obviously don’t have critical thinking skills and have made it this far in life. If it’s not on their doorstep they don’t want to believe it because it’s an inconvenience to them.
Even more unbelievable than calling it a hoax is that Dump Trump keeps saying the Democrats did this just to get him out of office. His ego is so enlarged that he thinks the entire world cooked up this pandemic so he would not be re-elected? Killed their people, ruined their economies, and every other horrible thing just because of him. Hey Dump? The rest of the world does not care who is POTUS. Unless they are in government and have to deal with you. I really cannot imagine how someone can be so out of touch with reality. But you are right about one thing and one thing only. We are going to use every bit of your incompetence to eject you from the White House this November. And you will leave, so stop threatening us that you might not. Our laws guarantee a peaceful passing over of power. And you are the Law & Order guy aren’t you? Right. Just add that to the list of your billion lies.
I feel for his kid and that’s it. Woolery himself can get f*cked.
If it hadn’t affected him directly, he would be all too happy to still be tweeting about being lied to and encouraging people to endanger others because “muh freedoms”!!
“We’ve been lied to,” CW. Who lied and what was said? Enough. For the many of us who had parents or are parents and aware our country and our communities thrive on inclusivity and diversity. The best you can do for America is remain in your bunker.
“It is like all the “cool white people” from the 80s and 90s are turning out to be closet racists and tin hat enthusiasts.”
Bob Ross and Fred Rogers weren’t racist or tin hat enthusiasts. Then again, they both died 15 plus years ago before the USA became like this. I like to think if they were both still alive and of sound mind, they’d be outspoken against the racists, fascism and conspiracy theorists.
Bill Nye is still cool. But then, he’s a scientist. I think Mr. Rogers would be encouraging us “boys and girls” to wear masks.
Yes! I used to watch BR when I was a kid all the time and I’ve been watching him a lot lately to calm my anxiety. Even though it’s sad that he died so young and I used to think it was terrible, lately I feel like he was too good for this world and passed at the right time. Before the internet made this world insane, Trump, and everything else that has happened in the last 25 years.
And since when was Chuck Woolery ever cool? He was a lame game show host.
Unfortunately Mary Hart is the second coming of Eva Braun. Learning that she is a rabid trumpster is so disheartening. However, since she’s a retired old lady I guess she can say what she really thinks right? Entertainment Tonight must be staffed with crazies. I remember Catherine Mann (she was a reporter in the earlier ET years) turned about to be a crazy GOPer. Her hubby, Gopher of the Love Boat, is too. Disappointing.
Holy crap-that’s really Chuck Woolery?? I thought it was a fake account 🤦♀️
I would not wish this on anyone. His tweet was disgusting, ignorant and a lie. There’s a word in Yiddish, Kenahora, it is so fitting. There are many translations but in this case- don’t say bad things because they can come back to bite you, or worse, someone you love. It’s the same as people posting they won’t wear masks, distance, etc, then their obituaries are published. Kenahora!
I really question this “he didn’t show any symptoms” line, especially when an anti-masker, conspiracy theorist suddenly comes down with the virus, or knows someone that does and they conveniently are/were asymptotic.
I think most who get tested, especially if they’re on the side of this being no big deal ONLY GETS TESTED when there’s a reason to. And that is that they feel symptoms. Might be little ones, a tickle in the throat, surprising fatigue, maybe a little warmer than necessary. But they have symptoms!
And that is why this is spreading. People go about their careless lives, thinking la dee da, life is fine, look at me, nothing wrong with me. Then they wake up one morning and they don’t feel well. And then probably go about their normal business, spreading it around, deep inside knowingly, and then finally get tested cause they’re scared out their wits. Then they lie and say they didn’t feel anything, and the vicious cycle continues.
I didn’t feel well one day. I wear a mask most of the time, but we are not hermetically sealed away. I got tested. Still don’t know the results, but I am feeling almost 100% better. I hope I am fine. But I didn’t think to get tested until I had a reason to. And the slightest little symptom made me run to the doctor. NO WAY AN ANTI-COVID believer is going to get tested for funsies. They are lying about being asymptomatic and that is often how this narrative gets pushed.
@teebee. agreed 1000%. They had symptoms. Or oddly enough they say they already had it as if they’re immune to getting it again which the jury is still out on that.
Conspiracists irk me especially with that whole ‘you’ll see after the election line’ I am not from the US, I promise there is no conspiracy. Wear a damn mask! Protect the elderly and immunocompromised and protect yourself