Podcaster Joe Rogan, who has become infamous for hosting COVID-19 conspiracy spreaders on his program, said he is open to changes to his show. He said he would book more mainstream experts after hosting controversial ones and doing more research on certain topics.
“I’m not trying to promote misinformation, I’m not trying to be controversial,” Rogan said in an Instagram video. “I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people.”
“I do all the scheduling myself, and I don’t always get it right,” he added.
270 health experts complained to Spotify that Rogan was spreading dangerous misinformation that is “a sociological issue of devastating proportions.” Rogan said sometimes what is considered to be misinformation now is accepted “as fact.” He pointed to changing notions about how safe cloth masks are, whether vaccinated people can catch and spread the virus and where the virus originated.
Rogan became a lightning rod after he said last year, “If you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well … like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.” Johns Hopkins researchers countered, “But according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over the summer, in the United States, people under age 30 accounted for more than 20% of COVID-19 cases and were seen as more likely to transmit the virus than others. This trend has continued into the fall.” Rogan’s audience skews young, with an average listener age of 24 years old.
Rogan defended his widely panned interview with Dr. Robert Malone, who dubiously calls himself the “inventor” of mRNA vaccines. CNBC added:
On the episode, Malone told host Joe Rogan that there had recently been an “explosion of vaccine-associated deaths,” and that hospitals are financially incentivized to label Covid as a cause of patient deaths. He also said leaders are using “free-floating anxiety” to “hypnotize” the public.
All three theories were quickly identified as false, as reported by AP News and nonprofit fact-checking outlet PolitiFact. YouTube removed a video of the interview soon after it was posted, citing violated community guidelines.
PolitiFact shared more about the man Rogan defends as an expert, even in his apology video. PolitiFact described Malone, “Who gained hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers in recent months as he promoted anti-vaccine falsehoods, drew a comparison in the interview between COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the U.S. and the environment in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, when the Nazi party rose to power.”
Rogan also used his program to falsely claim that mRNA vaccines are “gene therapy,” and he promoted off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration warnings.
Rogan said when he has a controversial guest on in the future, he will forewarn listeners that the guest expresses views that are not accepted by everyone and that he would follow up such controversial views with mainstream experts.
Should you worry about what is happening with COVID-19 in Denmark?
We learned in the last two years that we all have an interest in knowing how the coronavirus is moving around the world. That’s why a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in Denmark is worrying. It is not just a rapid increase that captured the attention of health officials, it is that the new variant, BA.2, is the fastest rising version of COVID-19 there. And the spread of this new variant comes just as the highly vaccinated country reopens its bars and restaurants and health clubs.
