Leslie Lee III, an educator, critic, and Long COVID advocate, died on November 10. He was 43.
“I am sad to share with you the tragic news of his passing,” Lee’s spouse, Kelly Ferris, wrote on social media on November 14. “Leslie Lee III was a beloved husband, son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, and friend. He left us much too soon.”
Lee was well-known for hosting the podcast Struggle Session as well as appearing as a guest on podcasts like The Katie Halper Show. He was also a culture critic who published his writing in numerous outlets, focusing on leftist politics, film, and more. In his free time, he was an avid reader, a DJ, and an animal rescue center volunteer. In the past few years, he spread awareness about the risks of COVID-19, challenging leftist commentators who denied the dangers of SARS-C0V-2 and Long COVID.
Since he became disabled with Long COVID in 2022, Lee shared his experience with the disease and raised awareness about the ongoing pandemic. “When I returned to work I experienced some lingering fatigue which I thought was normal,” he wrote on his GoFundMe. “However, it became significantly worse over time and began to negatively [affect] my professional and personal life.”
Ferris told The Sick Times that Lee had severe Long COVID and that it was “very clearly a contributing factor to his death.”
After his death was announced last month, community members, loved ones, and colleagues began mourning Lee and commemorating his legacy. The group Long COVID Advocacy wrote in a statement that Lee “leaves behind a body of work rooted in justice, clarity and community care. He spoke with a rare moral seriousness about the ongoing mass disabling event, refusing to let the world look away from preventable harm.”
The COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project wrote in a tribute to Lee, “he became a vital voice in exposing the reality of Long COVID and the systems failing disabled people.”
[Lee] spoke with a rare moral seriousness about the ongoing mass disabling event, refusing to let the world look away from preventable harm.
Long COVID ADvocacy, in a statement
His colleague Katie Halper shared on social media, “[E]ven though [Lee] had his own financial & health struggles, he was, of course, sharing other people’s GoFundMe pages more than his own. That’s exactly who he was, personally & politically.” Leftist political commentator Briahna Joy wrote, “Leslie Lee III was a brilliant analyst. He was sharp, funny, empathetic and principled.”
Lee was originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and later in his life moved to the Washington, D.C., area. In 2005, Lee earned a BA from Louisiana State University in philosophy, later attaining a master’s degree in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University in 2020.
Before his work as a teacher and writer, Lee served as a data processing manager for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in hurricane recovery, including work after Hurricane Katrina. He also volunteered throughout his life in animal rescue centers.
Lee hosted Struggle Session, a podcast that covered pop culture from a leftist perspective. He explored an assortment of topics in pop culture from Star Wars to H. P. Lovecraft. He also covered the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Long COVID on the show, interviewing fellow writers and journalists like The Gauntlet’s Julia Doubleday and sharing his experience with Long COVID with guest Taylor Lorenz. In one of his last episodes, he interviewed neurologist Johnathan Howard, author of We Want Them Infected.
“He was one of the few voices in leftist spaces that refused to buy into COVID denialism,” journalist Taylor Lorenz told me. “He was such a strong voice for true intersectional advocacy and social justice.”
Lee also had an extensive career as a freelance journalist and critic, writing for BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Jacobin, The Japan Times, Loudoun Now, Truthdig, Time Out Tokyo, and many others. He also appeared as a commentator on the BBC, NPR, and Pacifica Radio. His progressive politics often informed his sharp analysis, as seen in his Truthdig piece “Neoliberalism Is the True Villain of Joker.” He’s known for starting the popular 2016 hashtag criticizing mainstream media’s portrayal of Bernie Sanders’s fanbase, #BernieMadeMeWhite.
Aside from his contributions in the media, Lee worked passionately as an English teacher before he was forced to take leave due to Long COVID. He recently taught middle school for Loudoun County Public Schools in Ashburn, Virginia, and in the early 2010s, taught for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme in the Yamanashi Prefecture of Japan.
“For Leslie, his enthusiasm of being an educator and working with young people was betrayed by having to leave the profession, his classroom, and his students because of Long COVID,” wrote friend and collaborator Adam Umak in a tribute on Medium.
For Leslie, his enthusiasm of being an educator and working with young people was betrayed by having to leave the profession, his classroom, and his students because of Long COVID.
Adam Umak, in a tribute on medium
Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Death Panel cohost, stated in a tribute to Lee and the late Alice Wong that Lee’s teachings extended beyond the classroom.“He turned [his experience with Long COVID] into testimony, into analysis, into solidarity … even in immense pain and exhaustion, Leslie’s instinct was to keep teaching, to keep naming what the state refused to name, to keep insisting that the truth mattered, not for its own sake, but for the lives tethered to it.”
While on leave from teaching after developing Long COVID, Lee hoped time off would allow him to recover, but he wasn’t provided relief from the disease. “Long COVID had taken hold of my life, and its impact was profound and unrelenting,” he wrote.
Long COVID is a biological disease that follows COVID-19. The disease affects hundreds of millions of people around the world, can cause significant disability, and can be fatal. It is a continuing health crisis.
Lee advocated for COVID-19 precautions, treatments for people with Long COVID, and for progressive publications and commentators to address the ongoing pandemic and the Long COVID crisis.
He is survived by his spouse, Kelly Ferris, mother, Bobbie Lee, sisters, Melanie and Celia, brother, Kevin, and niece and nephew, Chase and Chloe. He is also survived by his dog, Jackson.
Shortly before his death, Lee wrote, “Please start taking COVID seriously before more people have to suffer and die.”
Please start taking COVID seriously before more people have to suffer and die.
Leslie LEe III
Lee’s family invited community members to contribute to his GoFundMe to cover expenses for his funeral and the loss of income following his death.
All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.
More policy & advocacy stories
- HHS hosts event and announces new initiatives for Lyme disease, but advocates are skeptical about follow-through
- “Medically neglected” and “structurally erased”: International network appeals for ME advocate Nevra Elis
- Doctors who refuse to engage with administrative work are abandoning their poorest and sickest patients
- Leslie Lee III, culture critic and Long COVID advocate, dies at 43
