Marcus Lamb, co-founder and CEO of Christian Daystar Television Network, died from COVID-19 on Tuesday. He was 64.
NBC News notes Lamb was openly against the COVID-19 vaccine.
The network issued a statement on Twitter. “It’s with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning,” the tweet reads. “The family asks that their privacy be respected as they grieve this difficult loss. Please continue to lift them up in prayer.”
Lamb contracted the virus only weeks ago, with his wife Joni saying in a recent broadcast that he was transported to the hospital when his oxygen levels plummeted. She also said he underwent treatments that ultimately failed.
“With this thing, it’s kind of like riding a roller coaster,” she said. “It’s like, you’ll just be up and everything’s great, and then you have a little lull, and then you come down low and then you come back up, but from everybody that I talk to—I think that’s the pattern.”
Lamb’s son Jonathan stood in for his father during a Nov. 23 broadcast and asked viewers to pray for his father to regain his health. Jonathan characterized the virus as “a spiritual attack from the enemy” to “take down” Lamb.
The network has been vehemently anti-lockdown, anti-vaccination, and anti-social distancing since the outset of the pandemic.
According to the Wrap, Lamb was well-known for abusing PPP loans. Last year, he received over $3 million from the federal government, which he used on a private plane. He returned the funds after he was found out.
