Anti-vax podcaster Douglas Kuzma dies of COVID-19 caught at Texas conspiracy theory gathering

Podcaster and outspoken anti-vaxxer Douglas Kuzma has died after a battle with COVID-19, which he contracted while attending a Dallas meeting of far-right conspiracy theorists, the Daily Beast reports. Kuzma, a host for the hard-right Frog News Network, picked up the coronavirus while attending the ReAwaken America Tour's mid-December stop in Dallas, according to the news site, which confirmed the podcaster's death through his daughter.

If the ReAwaken America sounds familiar, that may be because it's the same tour of right-wing conspiracy theorists that made headlines from San Antonio in November when former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said the U.S. should adopt "one religion." Cornerstone Church, which hosted the San Antonio event, later said it didn't endorse ReAwaken America's views, although video showed church lead pastor Matt Hagee giving the gathering's welcome address. While Flynn didn't make national news at ReAwaken America's Dallas stop, it was the subject of a wild-ass online rumor that attendees were sickened by a bioweapon attack, the Daily Beast reports. Right-wingers made baseless claims the crowd was exposed to anthrax blown through fog machines rather than "the deadly virus that has been sweeping the globe for the last 18 months," according to the news site. The tour's organizer, Oklahoma business coach Clay Clark, denied the anthrax rumors in an interview with the Daily Beast.