Bob Saget reportedly complained that he 'didn't feel good' before final stand-up set, said his hearing was off — but his loved ones dispute the allegations
Comedian Bob Saget was reportedly feeling unwell in the hours leading up to his death, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.
Saget was found dead in an Orlando, Florida, hotel room in January, having suffered a brain bleed as a presumed result of an unwitnessed fall. An autopsy determined that Saget was COVID-19-positive at the time of his death.
The comedian's family and friends, however, have refuted this claim and said that he was not ill with long COVID before his death.
What are the details?
Saget's showrunner and other witnesses have come forward to detail what they say was Saget's condition during the time leading up to his death.
According to various reports, Florida's Orange County sheriff's office released photos, bodycam footage, and interview audio featuring testimony of witnesses who claimed to have interacted with Saget in the time leading up to his death.
One such witness was showrunner Rosalie Cocci, who told investigators that Saget — who was suffering from long COVID in the days and weeks ahead of his death — said he "didn't feel good" ahead of his final show, noting that his hearing was off and he was suffering from a sore throat.
"I did hear him say, 'I don't feel good but I'm ready to do the show,'" she recalled. "'This is what I do this for.' He seemed to be talking himself up. ... He wasn't sweating, he didn't miss a beat, nothing slurred. ... He came out very energetic."
Cocci added, "[Saget] said he had long-term COVID, and it was taking his body a long time to get over it. He said that his hearing had been off and that was the case that night. He was asking the sound guys to turn everything up. And [he said] that he had been sick the night before — his hearing was off, and he had a sore throat. He was happy he had lozenges for the stage."
Cpl. Brian Meadows said that he was moved to interview those in Saget's circle following conversations with Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Stephany, who told Meadows that he could "not state definitively" when Saget's apparent head injury had occurred, "but believed it was probably within hours of his death, possibly within a day or two, depending on several medical factors."
Stephany added that Saget would have "exhibited significant signs that something was wrong."
Hospitality employee Richard Stanford told investigators that during a conversation, Saget's train of thought seemed fairly erratic, but that he chalked the behavior up to him being a comedian with an "ADD" personality.
"He's a comedian, and his thought track is just, you know, is ADD — just boom, boom, boom," Stanford recalled. "I don't know if he stumbled over words. The train of thought just changed a couple times. We'd be talking about a story and then, all of a sudden, he'd bring up this part, and I don't know personally how those would tie together. Just weird, stepping on himself a little bit."
Stanford, who walked Saget to his car following the conversation, said that he didn't notice that "anything was wrong."
"At no point did I think anything was wrong," Stanford insisted. "He chatted with everyone. ... He had a good time talking with everyone."
What else?
TMZ on Thursday reported that Saget's friends and family denied he was sick with long COVID leading up to his death.
"Bob Saget's friends and family say he was his normal, happy and joking self in the days leading up to his death ... and allegations he was complaining about being sick with long-term COVID before his last show just don't add up," the outlet reported. "We spoke with one of Bob's best friends, who was in touch with the comedian almost daily, and tells us Saget never mentioned feeling off or that he was still battling the after-effects of COVID. Not only that, we're told the friend, who saw Bob regularly, said he never exhibited symptoms of being sick either."
Saget's widow, Kelly Rizzo, also stated that the late comedian — with whom she spoke on the day he died — "never mentioned being sick or having hearing issues."