Joe Rogas has been a lightning rod for controversy these past few months, with things seemingly picking up on the proposed censorship front the past couple of weeks, mostly thanks to COVID-19.
The stand-up comedian turned podcast host has been streaming The Joe Rogan Experience exclusively from the Spotify platform since September 2020, after he announced a licensing deal with them worth a reported $100 million back in May of 2020. Since landing on Spotify, there have been intermittent rumblings and rumours of Spotify employees being upset over the lack of censorship on the podcast, and as of late, it seems the wider general public has also been up in arms about the guests on Rogan's show.
After Rogan hosted two doctors in particular, who both discussed COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation in detail as well as other topics that are simply shunned or not discussed in mainstream news, Rogan himself became a target for allegedly spreading misinformation -- hoards of people who may not have actually listened to the podcast, including doctors and scientists, began targeting Rogan for cancellation, although Spotify has not budged. It's worth noting, one of the podcast guests who caused a stir, Dr. Roberrt Malone, is actually the inventor of the mRNA vaccine technology, which inevitably led to the COVID-19 vaccine. The other guest who riled up the public was Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who is "the most published physician in his field, in history," as Rogan stated in his new video clip.
In the 9-minute video released today, Rogan goes on to refer to these two men as having an "opinion that's different from the mainstream narrative." He continues,
"I wanted to hear what their opinion is. I had them on, and those episodes, in particular, were labeled as being "dangerous"..."dangerous misinformation in them." The problem I have with the term "misinformation," especially today, is that many of the things we thought of as "misinformation," just a short awhile ago, are now accepted as fact, For instance, eight months ago if you said, "if you get vaccinated you can still catch COVID, and you can still spread COVID," you would be removed from social media, they would ban you from certain platforms. Now, that's accepted as fact. If you said, "I don't think cloth masks work," you would be banned from social media, now that's openly and repeatedly stated on CNN. If you said, "I think it's possible that COVDI-19 came from a lab," you would be banned from many social media platforms. Now, it's on the cover of Newsweek. All of those theories that at one point in time were banned were openly discussed by the two men I had on my podcast."
As Rogan addressed both his fans and his detractors, he admitted (as he often does) to not knowing anything, and not knowing if either man is wrong or right. He also addressed the recent Neil Young and Joni Mitchell controversy, as the former artist recently called on Spotify to either remove Rogan from their platform or else remove his catalog, while the latter decided to remove herself.
Finally, Rogan helped announce a new feature that Spotify is implementing concerning "these controversial podcasts, specifically these ones about COVID." These types of episodes will contain a disclaimer, prompting listeners to speak to their doctor.
Check out his video below. Let us know what you think.
