Longtime Fox News host Neil Cavuto stressed the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 after he tested positive for the virus and noted, “Had I not been vaccinated, and with all my medical issues, this would be a far more dire situation.” Now, because of his plea to Fox News viewers to get vaccinated for their own health and safety, Cavuto is facing death threats, according to a report by NPR.
Cavuto has been open in the past about his health conditions, including multiple sclerosis, and he has told viewers that he would survive COVID-19 because he had taken the vaccine.
According to Business Insider, during a Tuesday segment of Cavuto’s show “Your World” the host read aloud an email that a viewer sent to him that said that Cavuto appeared to have “lost weight.”
According to NPR, Cavuto read part of the threatening email to viewers: “But I’m not happy with less of you. I want ‘none’ of you. I want you gone. Dead. Caput [sic]. Fini. Get it? Now, take your two-bit advice, deep-six it and you!”
Some viewers were supportive of Cavuto, NPR reports, but others told him, “I admire your remarkable strength through so much adversity, but let me give you some advice: shut up and enjoy the fact you’re not dead. For now.”
According to NPR, Cavuto brushed off the harsh comments, saying that he just wanted people vaccinated so the pandemic would end.
“Life is too short to be an ass,” he said on television. “Life is way too short to be ignorant of the promise of something that is helping people worldwide. Stop the deaths. Stop the suffering. Please, get vaccinated. Please.”
Fox News has come under fire for its COVID-19 coverage, with Dr. Anthony Fauci having previously called Fox News Host Tucker Carlson’s vaccine comments “typical crazy conspiracy theory.”
Fox News Media implemented its own vaccine requirement before the federal mandate, requiring employees to submit their vaccination status, and 90 percent of employees at Fox Corporation report that they are fully vaccinated. In an interview withthe Hollywood Reporter, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott stated that she, too, is fully vaccinated.
This contrast between company policy and what employees say on air has drawn comments from President Biden, “Even — this I always get a kick out of — Fox News. Fox News requires vaccinations for all employees. Give me a break. Fox News.”
Some Fox News hosts, including Cavuto, have encouraged their viewers to get inoculated. Others, such as Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, have criticized the coronavirus vaccines and argued that Americans should not be mandated to get them.