The Herman Cain Award is an ironic award given to people who made public statements of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy, and who have later died from COVID-19 or COVID-19 complications.[1][2][3] The award is named after American businessman and political figure Herman Cain, a Republican pandemic denier who died of COVID-19 complications after attending a June 2020 rally in support of then-President Donald Trump without wearing a face mask.[1][2] A text label which says “Awarded” is emblazoned on the conversation thread containing evidence and community discussions of a third party’s anti-COVID mitigation positions and their subsequent death.[1]

The concept is associated with the subreddit r/HermanCainAward, where posts about people who have “made public declaration of their anti-mask, anti-vax, or Covid-hoax views”[3] are marked as “nominated” if the person is hospitalized with COVID-19. If the person dies, the post is marked “awarded”

We’d all be too busy laughing at your stupidity to care what you were doing if you werent literal f****** plague rats endangering our loved ones.