If you don't know Joe Rogan, you need to be introduced to him
Two years after Rogan annoyed progressives by saying he’d vote for a Bernie Sanders, the Left now sees his podcast as the face of COVID "misinformation"
Because Joe Rogan prefers curiosity to ignorance, free-flowing ideas to propaganda and free speech to censorship, he has become Public Enemy #1 to the Fascist Left Democrats. (Photo: Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Podcast star Joe Rogan has emerged as Public Enemy #1 among media liberals after being accused of peddling misinformation about COVID-19. That’s not unusual for the Fascist Left to try to cancel conservatives. Joe Rogan, though, is not a conservative.
It is an odd and unlikely path the former sitcom star took to being despised by the Left.
"Joe Rogan is a liberal, but it almost doesn't matter what he is politically. The biggest difference between Rogan and the consensus pushers in the legacy media is that he's curious ― he approaches topics with humility and interest, and brings deep conversations to his audience without drilling into their heads how they should think," Fourth Watch editor Steve Krakauer said.
"It's the antithesis of our arrogant gatekeepers, who spend so much energy attempting to convince their audience how they should think and feel, to the detriment of their own credibility," he continued. "Has Rogan hosted conversations on his podcast where guests, or he, have made dubious statements? Absolutely. But the difference between Rogan and the establishment press is these statements are made not in the context of a veneer of absolute truth, but in a free-flowing exchange of ideas and conversation."
Rogan rose to fame years before Spotify shelled out a reported $100 million to bring his podcast to the digital music streaming platform. He spent years as a successful standup comedian, had a mid-90s stint on NBC’s "NewsRadio" alongside the late Phil Hartman, hosted the reality TV hit "Fear Factor" and has been an Ultimate Fighting Championship announcer for two decades.
He launched "The Joe Rogan Experience" in 2010, and it quickly developed a following for its discussions about entertainment, current events, politics, comedy and just about everything else the namesake host found interesting.
By 2015, "The Joe Rogan Experience" topped 11 million monthly downloads and the comedian-turned-actor-turned-PFC-announcer-turned-reality-TV-host was suddenly more famous for his podcast than anything else. He says the success happened organically, and he never intended to conquer what is essentially modern talk radio.
"It just sort of [expletive] happened," he said in 2016.
Four years later at the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Spotify announced it would bring "The Joe Rogan Experience" exclusively to its platform. That same year, Rogan declared he would "probably vote for Bernie," meaning Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who was in a tight race running for the Democratic presidential nomination against Joe Biden.
Rogan’s quasi-endorsement of Sanders resulted in backlash from the Left, as liberals were irked that Sanders touted his support. However, the liberals were not annoyed because of Rogan’s politics, instead claiming he made "racist, homophobic and transphobic comments" throughout his career.
Leftists went ballistic when Joe Rogan quasi-endorced Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for president, not because of the talk show host’s politics but because of being politically incorrect in having used the N-word in his comedy act 20 years ago and coming out against transgender MMA fighters from competing against biological women. (Photos: Joe Rogan Experience/Spotify) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A CNN article reporting backlash to Sanders’ campaign boasting about Rogan’s support described the podcast star as "a libertarian-leaning broadcaster," and cited past use of the N-word and his speaking out that transgender MMA fighters shouldn’t be allowed to fight biological women as why he was considered problematic at the time.
"The decision to highlight Rogan’s support has divided opinion among Democrats and activists, particularly online, where it has sparked a heated debate over whether Sanders should have aligned himself with Rogan in any form or context," CNN reported at the time.
Far-left group Move-On.org even demanded that Sanders apologize for elevating Rogan’s endorsement.
A mere two years after Rogan first annoyed progressives simply by saying he’d vote for a self-described Democratic socialist, the "The Joe Rogan Experience" is seen as the face of COVID "misinformation" by many outspoken Leftist Nazis in the media and in government.
Rogan has claimed he isn’t anti-vaccine, but has also suggested healthy young people simply don’t need it, which doesn’t sit well with many liberals. After backlash, Rogan clarified on a later episode: "I’m not a doctor, I’m a f--king moron, and I’m a cage-fighting commentator who’s a dirty stand-up comedian … I’m not a respected source of information — even for me."
However, that wasn’t the last time Rogan found himself discussing COVID on his show.
In June 2021, Rogan’s guest, biologist Bret Weinstein, said "ivermectin alone, if properly utilized, is capable of driving this pathogen to extinction." Months later, Rogan announced he tested positive for COVID himself and was using ivermectin to help combat the virus.
"We immediately threw the kitchen sink at it. All kinds of meds," Rogan explained in September. "Monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin, Z-pak, prednisone, everything. And I also got an anti-D drip and a vitamin drip."
The Leftist media quickly began criticizing Rogan, accusing him of pushing ivermectin on his loyal fan base. The drug was a hot topic at the time, as it is often used to treat animals. But Rogan insisted three days of his "kitchen sink" strategy helped him recover quickly.
"Here we are on Wednesday and I feel great," Rogan explained at the time. "I really only had one bad day. Sunday sucked, but Monday was better, Tuesday felt better than Monday and today, I feel good … I actually feel pretty f--king good."
Rogan has repeatedly said he is not an “anti-vaxxer” but believes it is obvious it isn’t as effective as it was touted to be. When he became ill with COVID despite being vaccinated, he “threw the kitchen sink” at it, as he said, including monoclonals, ivermectin and other treatments, raising the ire of the Fascist Left yet again. (Photo Illustration: Jamie Brown/America’s Conservative Voice) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rogan has also insisted people who have antibodies don’t always need the vaccine, is an outspoken critic of lockdowns and interviewed controversial Dr. Peter McCullough. Last month, Rogan suggested the risk of myocarditis among vaccinated people age 12-17 was higher than the risk of contracting COVID, but was quickly fact-checked by Australian broadcaster Josh Szeps.
As Rogan spoke about COVID more frequently, he transitioned from a comedian who made controversial comments on occasion to an influential podcast host who must be silenced in the eyes of many liberals. The Daily Beast enlisted a far-left advocate to declare Rogan was "mainstreaming right-wing information."
Liberal musicians, most notably Neil Young, have pulled their music from Spotify and demanded the platform boot Rogan’s podcast to the curb to protest his thoughts on COVID treatment and rhetoric by recent guests. Spotify has refused, making far more money hosting Rogan’s show than Neil Young or anyone else has ever made them.
"The anti-speech activists in the media hate Rogan because they fear him," Krakauer said. "Because if an audience can be empowered to think for themselves by a media personality who refuses to tell people what to think, what do they need the mainstream press for?"
Last month, a group of advocates signed an open letter that asked Spotify to "take action against mass-misinformation events" on its platform after Rogan’s "highly controversial episode" with Dr. Robert Malone, which seemed to be the last straw for many of Rogan’s staunch critics.
Social media platforms reacted in panic after Malone’s interview with Rogan, in which he applied a theory from Professor Mattias Desmet suggesting how a large population can be sent into "mass formation psychosis."
The video was swiftly removed from YouTube, while Malone believes Google search results were also affected. The open letter blasted Rogan for pushing "misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine" during the ongoing COVID pandemic and noted that Dr. Malone has been suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID.
Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann last week called Rogan the "stupidest f-----g guy on the planet" after he interviewed Malone. CNN invited a health care professional who signed the letter to amplify it on the network’s struggling morning show "New Day," where co-host Brianna Keilar mocked Rogan for "moving the goalposts" after he was fact-checked in real time by Szeps.
Rogan has since been criticized by everyone from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to musicians such as Young and Joni Mitchell, who pulled their music catalogs from Spotify in an act of protest against his COVID rhetoric.
Despite some musicians pulling their music catalogues from Spotify, the streaming company has refused to deplatform Joe Rogan, who makes more money for them than any dozen musicians combined. (Photo: Janie Welsh/Toronto Sun) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"While unsurprising, it's still amazing that someone like Joe Rogan has become the subject of such hatred and venom from the Leftism media and their allies in academic and public medicine. Rogan has drawn such strong levels of invective for simply going against the ruling class on issues such as COVID-19 and, more broadly, the classically liberal principles of free, open, and rigorous debate with diversity in thought, NewesBusters managing editor Curtis Houck said.
Despite having had a long career in Hollywood and supported politicians like Bernie Sanders, none of his past behaviors favoring the liberal agendea are enough in the eyes of today's Left. It's conform or be silenced. It's twisted and lacking reason for them to voice support for free speech and the First Amendment but insist Rogan shouldn't be allowed to have a prominent platform. It's not only important to point out how he's not to be confused with a conservative, but it's almost an imperative to illustrate just how authoritarian and close-minded too many on the Fascist Left have become.
CNN has particularly feuded with Rogan. There was an openly hostile exchange ongoing for days when Rogan took ivermectin to tread COVID-19 and the liberal outlet ran the narrative that he had taken "horse dewormer" and a "livestock drug." Rogan fired back in an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that his network was "lying" and Gupta conceded some of CNN's people had misspoken.
During a headline-making appearance on Rogan’s podcast, Gupta pointed to the "snarky" statement released by the FDA saying, "You are not a horse. You are not a cow," in order to encourage people to not take ivermectin, but Rogan remained persistent on calling out CNN's coverage of a drug that's been "given out to billions and billions of people" and resulted in a Nobel Prize.
Rogan first told Gupta that his ivermectin was "prescribed to me by a doctor," forcing the CNN correspondent to say the drug "shouldn't be called" horse dewormer.
The fight continued when CNN fumed in a statement to The Washington Post that Rogan had undermined faith in effective vaccines, adding "the only thing CNN did wrong here was bruise the ego of a popular podcaster who pushed dangerous conspiracy theories." The Post's Erik Wemple wrote at the time that the statement from CNN "sounds more like the work of an advocacy group than a journalism outfit."
Rogan spoke out about calls to silence him on Sunday in a video he posted on Instagram. He offered some background on his guests and argued that their opinions were worth hearing, while challenging the word "misinformation" given that so much is still being learned about COVID-19.
Rogan said Spotify will begin to put a disclaimer at the beginning of these sorts of interviews, and he will also consider following them up with an expert with a different opinion.
"I’m going to do my best, in the future, to balance things out … I’m going to do my best," Rogan said. "But my point of doing this, always, is just to create interesting conversations and ones that I hope people enjoy."
Rogan’s decision to allow the disclaimer and to follow up guests the Fascists consider “controversial” or “spreading misinformation” could be seen as a bit of a sell-out. That would be a mistake. What it does is further reinforce Rogan’s belief that he is providing an open forum where a free exchange of ideas can take place without censorship or propaganda.
The Fascists could take a lesson from him. He’s proving they don’t know him very well.