Joe Rogan is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial characters in the United States and the internet in general. He is currently the subject of conversation due to the Spotify case as the streaming music platform preferred to keep its controversial podcast, constantly criticized for spreading false information instead of supporting Neil Young’s request to remove said content because of how damaging it can be.
If you are not aware of the situation, we will briefly explain it to you. Some days ago, Neil Young, a Canadian musician, and songwriter spoke out against Spotify for allowing Joe Rogan to publish his podcast on the platform. The artist was clear in mentioning that this content spreads false information about the COVID-19 vaccine, a position that is also supported by several scientists.
So he issued a warning: Spotify remove Joe Rogan’s podcast, or he would request that his music no longer be available on the service. What happened after? Well, Spotify chose aside, that of Joe Rogan. The platform has already removed part of Neil Young’s music catalog, but not before backing itself by saying that they have dedicated efforts to remove “more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic”.
This is not a good time to jump on the Spotify bandwagon, let alone Joe Rogan’s. But, right in the middle of the ruckus, one of the streamers most polar in Spain and the world, RubiusHe threw more wood on the fire. During an episode of The Wild Project, He said listening to Rogan’s podcast to find out. The reason, as he mentions, has to do with the difficulty of “informing oneself with the traditional media right now.”
Ok, yes, we all have the freedom to consume the content that we see fit. But when there is so much evidence against the podcast, and as a streamer you have an immense reach among young people, it is not responsible to give more diffusion to content whose information is far from being truthful. And to check the above, below 5 stupidities in which Joe Rogan has been involved through his podcast.
Promoting the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19
At the beginning of last September, Joe Rogan was confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19. Shortly after he announced that to treat the disease, I was taking ivermectin, an antiparasitic commonly used with horses and dogs; although it can also be ingested by humans —under medical prescription— to treat a parasitic infection.
In March 2021, the World Health Organization had already warned that it is not convenient to use ivermectin to treat COVID-19. The reason? The tests carried out up to that moment with said drug “were unreliable”. FDA did the same mentioning that “Currently available data do not show that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19. Taking large doses of ivermectin is dangerous.”
Before his infection, and despite the recommendations of the WHO and the FDA, Joe Regan had already been promoting ivermectin through his podcast. In April he accused Twitter of not letting him share a private message with information about the drug and accused the social network of censoring alternatives to vaccines. During June, he invited doctors Pierre Kory and Bret Weinstein, who for months had been promoting the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19, to his podcast. It is worth mentioning that the first had problems with YouTube for the same issue.
Giving space to the most famous denier and the conspiracy theorist in the US.
Alex Jones, a climate change denier, has conspiracy theories for just about everything, and a healthy dose of hate for those who disagree with him. For years he was building an audience through info wars until various platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, Apple, Facebook, and even Spotify, expelled him for encouraging hate speech not to be confused with freedom of expression.
Despite the controversy that has always surrounded Alex Jones, Joe Rogan gave him space on his podcast. What did Jones do? He used the opportunity to, for example, say that the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 28 people were killed, was “fake.” He also said that Joe Biden, now president of the United States, laundered money in Ukraine. The icing on the cake came when he mentioned that Buzz Aldrin, a former NASA astronaut, told him that aliens built the pyramids, a statement that never occurred.
His racist comments are in evidence
In 2020, Joe Rogan was surprised by showing his support for Bernie Sanders, who at the time was competing with Joe Biden and other politicians to represent the Democratic Party in the presidential elections. However, amid the apparent “good vibes” that existed between Rogan and Sanders, a Twitter user exposed the podcaster by sharing a compilation of his racist comments.
Joe Rogan, on multiple occasions, had referred to black people as “nigger”, a pejorative and racist term. Also, in another video shared via Twitter that was unfortunately deleted, Rogan compared a black neighborhood with Planet of the Apes.
Offenses against the trans community
In 2013, Joe Rogan was the target of criticism for his embarrassing comments vs. Fallon Fox, Trans MMA Fighter. Again, through his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, express:
“She calls herself a woman…I tend to disagree. She used to be a man and now she’s…she’s a transgender, which is the official term that means you’ve been through that, right? And she wants to fight women instead.” MMA I say no fucking way.
If you had a penis at one time, you also have the bone structure that comes with having a penis. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You are a fucking man. That’s a man, okay? You can’t have… I don’t care if you don’t have a penis anymore.
In March 2021, he expressed himself in the following way of trans: “The problem is that it becomes a protected subject and then they praise you for transferring your gender, for changing gender. And for people, it becomes something exciting to talk about it, and then you get scolded for discussing it in some weird way. The people who were marginalized for being generally dumb people, if they transform and become another gender, then they get praise. There are a lot of people who are idiots, but then they become trans, and now all of a sudden we think they’re amazing.”
Trying to keep young people from getting vaccinated
During April of the previous year, Joe Rogan hinted that young people should not accept vaccinations. “I think you should get vaccinated if you’re vulnerable. For most it’s safe to get vaccinated,” she said; although later he added: “But if you are about 21 years old, and you ask me ‘Should I get vaccinated?’, I will say no. Are you someone healthy? Are you a healthy person? You’re a healthy person, you exercise all the time, you’re young and you eat well, I don’t think you should worry about this.”
Following an alleged review of the episode’s content, from Spotify, they determined that it was not an anti-vaccine comment and maintained their availability.