After Covid Diagnosis, a Conservative Radio Host Sends a New Message

The Tennessee radio host, Phil Valentine, said he was among those who did not need to get vaccinated. Now his struggle with the virus is sparking its own discussion.

NASHVILLE — Mark Valentine knows that his brother Phil Valentine, a prominent conservative radio host who scoffed at the need to get vaccinated, has had a big impact on how his listeners have viewed the pandemic and their own response to it. “The fact of the matter is a lot of people didn’t get the vaccine because he didn’t,” Mark Valentine said. But after Phil Valentine was infected with Covid-19 and was hospitalized in critical condition, and since he issued a statement advising others to get the vaccine, the news has divided his fans and critics — who continue to clash over Mr. Valentine’s culpability in his own illness and his influence on listeners who, like him, waved off the opportunity to get vaccinated.