Conservative talk show host Phil Valentine dies after battle with Covid-19, according to his employer

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“Please keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers,” the station said in the tweet.

His death comes more than a month after the host first announced that he had been diagnosed with Covid-19. In her show, Valentine had repeatedly downplayed the importance of getting a vaccine against the virus, saying last December that she believed her personal chances of dying from Covid-19 were “probably well below one percent.”
The family says a conservative radio host has changed his tune about vaccines after he was hospitalized with Covid-19

But her message changed in late July when her family announced that Valentine had been hospitalized in a “very serious condition” and was suffering from “covid pneumonia and its side effects.”

Phil would like his listeners to know that while he has never been ‘anti-cowboy’, he regrets not being more vehemently ‘pro-vaccine’ and looks forward to defending that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope it will be soon, ”his brother Mark Valentine wrote on July 22nd.
Mark Valentine told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota in a July 26 interview that his brother was doing better, but “he was still very much in the woods” and breathing with help.

“He now acknowledges that not getting the vaccine has probably caused other people not to get vaccinated,” he said in the interview. “And that regrets it.”

Phil Valentine talks about his show in Nashville in 2009.

“This is a real threat, it’s a real public health crisis and it’s something that if he had to do it again … his gentlemanly attitude would not have been what it was and would have been vaccinated and encouraged everyone to get vaccinated “, added.

Following the news of his death, many shared tributes to the radio host.

“Mary and I are deeply saddened by the loss of Phil Valentine and pray for his family as they navigate the difficult days,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said. he wrote on Twitter.

Cameron Sexton, president of the Tennessee House, added that Phil Valentine “made a difference in life as a strong conservative voice.”

“Everything will be missed! Our sincere prayers and our deepest sympathies will go to the Valentine family and Phil’s radio family,” Sexton said. he wrote.

CNN’s Paul P. Murphy contributed to this report.

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