Former game show host Chuck Woolery Twitter’s account has disappeared after he blasted the health officials and Democrats for their ‘outrageous lies’ about the coroanvirus pandemic, then revealed a day later his son was diagnosed with the virus.
The 79-year-old, who was the original host of Wheel of Fortune and also hosted beloved game shows Love Connection and Scrabble, took to Twitter to reject the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic as a political ploy.
On Sunday he tweeted: ‘The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19.’
‘Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it,’ he added.
Chuck Woolery, 79, was the original host of Wheel of Fortune, presenting the show from 1975 to 1981
Woolery has deleted his social media accounts days after tweeting about the ‘outrageous lies’ surrounding the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday. On Monday he tweeted his son tested positive for the virus. By Wednesday his Twitter account was gone
Trump retweeted that message, kicking off a Twitter firestorm for raising question to his own health officials.
When asked about that tweet by CBS News’ Cathering Herridge, Trump said: ‘I didn’t make a comment.’
‘I did. I reposted a tweet that a lot of people feel. But all I am doing is making a comment. I’m just putting somebody’s voice out there. There are many voices. There are many people that think we shouldn’t do this kind of testing, because all we do, it’s a trap,’ Trump added.
Late Monday Woolery changed his tune, admitting his son contracted COVID-19, the deadly virus that has killed over 137,000 across the country and infected over nearly 3.5million.
‘To further clarify and add perspective, Covid-19 is real and it is here. My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for of those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved one,’ Woolery tweeted.
By Wednesday his Twitter account was gone.
It’s not clear if he deleted it himself or if it was related to a widespread hack Twitter experienced earlier Wednesday that effected Elon Musk, Joe Biden and Bill Gates.
It’s not clear which of Woolery’s sons are sick with the virus or his current condition.
Woolery hasn’t responded to request for comment, as per Deadline.
On Monday, President Donald Trump had highlighted Woolery’s original tweet which put him under an intense spotlight. He has since deleted his account.
Trump’s critics were shocked by the president’s siding with a 1980s game show host over experts such as the head of the center for infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci.
Fauci is said to have increasingly irritated the president with his refusal to back up some of Trump’s outlandish claims and theories.
Fauci has continued to issue stark warnings about the risks of reopening the country amid the pandemic, leading the White House to issue lists of when Fauci made mistakes.
‘This idea that our president is taking advice from somebody like Chuck Woolery, or promoting these kind of words from the guy whose biggest claim to fame is being the host of the Love Connection or a name in a Beastie Boys song is just utterly insanity,’ said epidemiologist Anne Rimoin, in an interview with MSNBC.
Ben Sommers, a doctor who teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the retweet was damaging.
‘When the president is calling the guidance wrong and endorsing the view that these public health experts are lying, it makes it incredibly difficult for the public to know what to do,’ he told The Washington Post.
Woolery’s career as a game show host began in the 1970s and ended in 2007
In 2002 Woolery hosted a contest to find who had the ‘most beautiful underarms’
‘It erodes the long-term ability of our government to provide one of its basic goals which is to protect the public safety.’
Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman and Democrat presidential candidate, despaired at the tweet.
‘This virus is out of control, with no leadership from our governor, no leadership from the president, who as you mentioned is tweeting out health guidance from Chuck Woolery instead of Dr Fauci,’ he said.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, asked about the retweet, defended the president’s criticisms of Fauci and reinforced the president’s attacks on the government’s health experts.
She accused ‘some rogue individuals’ at the CDC of misleading the public and defended Trump’s retweet of Woolery by saying he was calling out scientists for engaging in politics.
‘Overall, the notion of the tweet was to point out the fact that when we use science, we have to use it in a way that is not political,’ she said.
Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman and Democrat presidential candidate, despaired at the tweet. ‘This virus is out of control, with no leadership from our governor, no leadership from the president, who as you mentioned is tweeting out health guidance from Chuck Woolery instead of Dr Fauci,’ he said
But the retweet was ridiculed on social media by Trump’s critics.
Ted Lieu, congressman for California, defended the scientists and accused the president of deciding ‘to stab you in the back during a pandemic.’
He later tweeted: ‘Dear @chuckwoolery,’ with a link to an LA Times account from a hospital chaplain.
Bryan Behar, an Emmy-nominated writer, tweeted: ‘Now we have TWO washed-up game show hosts giving the nation medical advice.’
Grant Stern, an activist with Occupy Democrats, simply told his 100,000 followers: ‘Trump values Chuck Woolery’s opinion over Dr Fauci.’
Woolery is conservative and an active supporter of the Republican party and is a gun rights activist. He’s been married four times and has at least five children. Pictured with his fourth wife Kim Barnes at The Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 2019
Woolery was the original host of Wheel of Fortune, presenting the show from 1975 to 1981.
He hosted a series of dating shows, and his career culminated in 2007 with Game Show Network’s Lingo.
Woolery is conservative and an active supporter of the Republican party and is a gun rights activist.
He’s been married four times and has at least five children.
With his first wife Margaret Hayes he had two children together – Katherine and Chad. Chad was killed in a motorcycle accident in January 1986.
In 1972 he married actress Jo Ann Pflug and they had a daughter Melissa, but divorced in 1980.
His third wife was Teri Nelson with whom he has two sons, Michael and Sean. In 2006 he married his fourth wife Kim Barnes.