On Sunday, podcast host Joe Rogan addressed the controversy stemming from some recent guests on his program discussing coronavirus-related...
On Sunday, podcast host Joe Rogan addressed the controversy stemming from some recent guests on his program discussing coronavirus-related issues.
His remarks in a video came in response to some artists, like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, removing their songs from Spotify to protest Rogan spreading what they called “misinformation” about the pandemic.
The online platform carries “The Joe Rogan Experience,” one of the most popular podcasts in the country, averaging 11 million listeners per episode, according to Newsweek.
Rogan noted much of the controversy seems centered on the appearance on his show of doctors Peter McCullough in December and Robert Malone last month.
McCullough is a Dallas-based cardiologist whom Rogan described as the most published physician in his field in history, while Malone helped invent the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
“Both these people are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people, and they have an opinion that’s different from the mainstream narrative,” Rogan said. “I wanted to hear what their opinion is.”
Rogan spoke to the accusation that he’s “spreading dangerous misinformation” by having guests like McCullough and Malone on his program.
“The problem I have with the term ‘misinformation,’ especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact,” Rogan explained.
“For instance, eight months ago, if you said, ‘If you get vaccinated, you can still catch COVID, and you can still spread COVID,’ you’d be removed from social media,” he said. “Now, that’s accepted as fact.”
Rogan observed that the same was true of promoting the Chinese lab leak theory concerning the origin of COVID-19 or questioning the efficacy of wearing cloth face masks.
One of the main points McCullough made on Rogan’s show in December was that policymakers have focused too singularly on getting people vaccinated while failing to promulgate effective COVID-19 treatment protocols.
McCullough told Rogan that, in his opinion, upwards of 85 percent of COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented if patients had been treated earlier.
“Early multi-drug therapy as an outpatient works substantially, and we’ve had a giant loss of life, a giant number, millions and millions of unnecessary hospitalizations,” he said.
Malone, who was banned from Twitter the day before appearing on Rogan’s program, addressed the topic of Big Tech censorship, wondering who is qualified to weigh in on sound vaccine policy if he is not.
The doctor has come out strongly against children being vaccinated against COVID-19, arguing that the risk of them having complications from the vaccine is greater than the risk from the virus itself.
He has also questioned the wisdom of universal vaccination, given the unknown long-term effects of the vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the vaccines are safe and effective, noting that over 535 million doses have been administered. The agency acknowledges that in rare instances complications like anaphylaxis, thrombosis, myocarditis and even death have occurred. On the whole, the CDC says the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risk.
In his video, Rogan pointed out that he has also had people on his program who hold more widely accepted views about COVID-19 vaccines, like CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who serves as a COVID-19 adviser to President Joe Biden.
That said, Rogan pledged to have guests with contrary views in closer proximity to each other when dealing with controversial topics like coronavirus policy. The host closed by saying his main goal remains to have interesting conversations.
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