The late rocker Meat Loaf was outspokenly anti-vaccine mandate and anti-mask before his death — once telling a reporter, “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled,” according to reports Friday.
The 74-year-old “Bat Out of Hell” singer — who was reportedly critically ill with COVID-19 before he passed away Thursday — was opposed to pandemic restrictions, slamming lockdowns and mask mandates during an interview last summer.
The Grammy Award-winning musician, whose real name was Marvin Lee Aday, also railed against vaccine mandates in Australia, sources told TMZ.
Meat Loaf, who struggled with asthma and other health conditions, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August he considered lockdowns “political” and masks “useless” before offering reporter Scott Mervins an embrace.
“I’m happy to give you a hug. I hug people in the middle of COVID,” Meat Loaf said, adding that he refused to live life in fear.
“I’m sorry, I understood stopping life for a little while, but they cannot continue to stop life because of politics. And right now they’re stopping because of politics,” he said.
“And on CNN last night, it finally came out that the masks we’re all wearing are useless. But I’ve known that for six months. They don’t do anything. They don’t stop you from getting COVID. They’re just a nuisance and make your nose itch and make it so you can’t breathe.”
He added, “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.”
The rocker’s official cause of death wasn’t immediately known Friday. He had not said publicly whether he had been vaccinated for COVID-19.
The “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” singer also suffered from a back injury in November, which played a role in his declining health.
Meat Loaf won a Grammy for the 1993 hit “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” which soared to number one on the charts in more than two dozen countries.