Fox Host Calls Covid a ‘Scam’

Host Rachel Campos-Duffy praised Sen. Ron Johnson for “not falling for the Covid scam” during Sunday’s episode of Fox & Friends Weekend.

“I saw you had a podcast with Russell Brand. … You two couldn’t look more different and yet both of you were the most courageous people during the Covid pandemic scam, and both of you have stood up for those who were vaccine injured,” Campos-Duffy told Johnson.

Covid-19, which Campos-Duffy called a “scam,” has caused more than seven million deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Campos-Duffy, a former Real World cast member, has spread Covid disinformation before. She previously claimed the pandemic was a “psy op” and lied when she alleged that “there is not one child that was healthy that died of Covid.” In 2021, she compared vaccine mandates to “apartheid.”

“We are starting to see this sort of apartheid-type vaccination system where, you know, if you are vaccinated you get certain privileges,” Campos-Duffy said. “If you are unvaccinated because, you know, you don’t want to take the vaccine or you have natural immunities because you already had Covid, you’re going to be denied certain privileges, including seeing your doctor.”

Campos-Duffy has claimed she is unvaccinated, despite a Fox News policy that required all of the network’s New York City employees show proof of vaccination to work in their headquarters during the pandemic.

After President Joe Biden made a joke that all of the Fox anchors in attendance at the 2022 White House Correspondents Dinner were vaccinated (proof of vaccination was required to attend), Campos-Duffy claimed that she and co-host Pete Hegseth — neither of whom were at the event — had not gotten the Covid vaccine.

“They tried to call out Fox News and say ‘Look! Fox News is all vaccinated!’ No, that’s not true!” she said. Campos-Duffy then pointed to Hegseth and said the two of them are “not vaccinated” because the network “allow[s] people choice.”

According to a company memo from December 2020, “All workers in NYC who perform in-person work at an office location, including Fox employees, must show proof of receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Campos-Duffy is far from the only spreader of Covid disinformation on the network. Anchors Brian Kilmeade and Laura Ingraham have also fear-mongered about the vaccine and downplayed the virus and pandemic. Ingraham, Sean Hannity and former Fox host Tucker Carlson also promoted ivermectin as a Covid treatment despite a lack of scientific evidence.