Colorado radio host who urged boycott of vaccines dies of Covid-19

Bob Enyart, a rightwing talk radio host in Colorado who urged people to boycott vaccines for Covid-19, has died of Covid-19.

Related: ‘The virus is painfully real’: vaccine hesitant people are dying – and their loved ones want the world to listen

Enyart’s death was reported two weeks after the Denver Bible church said he and his wife had been taken to hospital.

“Pastor Bob and Cheryl are in … good hands and improving daily,” the church said then. “We anticipate and pray for a full recovery. We both grieve and rejoice together during this challenging time.”

In a Facebook post on Monday, Enyart’s co-host, Fred Williams, said: “It comes with an extremely heavy heart that my close friend and co-host of Real Science Radio has lost his battle with Covid.

“Bob Enyart was one of the smartest, and without question the wisest person I’ve known. All the while being exceedingly kind and humble, and always, always willing to listen and discuss anything you wanted.

“Heaven’s gain has left an enormous hole here on earth.”

In contrast, the Denver Post reported that Enyart was a practiced and brutal provocateur who once used a show on cable television to mock by name people who died of Aids.

According to a 1999 profile by Westword, Enyart “gleefully read obituaries of Aids sufferers while cranking Another One Bites the Dust by Queen”.

Enyart also called for women who had abortions to face the death penalty.

Related: Florida radio host who called himself ‘Mr Anti-Vax’ dies of Covid-19

Regarding Covid-19 vaccines, Enyart said people should boycott the shots “because …they tested these three products on the cells of aborted babies”.

Last October he successfully sued the state of Colorado over Covid-related restrictions on church attendance.

Enyart is not the first rightwing radio host to oppose vaccines and other Covid-19 public health measures including mask mandates before dying from Covid-19.

Four other such hosts have died.

More than 660,000 people have died of the virus in the US. Amid a surge of cases arising from the infectious Delta virus variant, the overwhelming majority of hospitalizations and deaths are among unvaccinated people.