Joe Rogan is ready to admit this much: he sure is a “f**king moron.”
Those are the exact words he used in a new episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Spotify on Thursday, at least.
Now, in a direct response to a controversy Joe himself created a week ago, he’s (sort of) walking back anti-vaccine comments he made suggesting young people and the COVID vaccine.
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ICYMI, last Friday, Joe went off on the Coronavirus shot during an episode of his highly-popular podcast. Ranting to his guest on that episode, comedian Dave Smith, the NewsRadio alum complained about how young, healthy people didn’t really need to get their COVID vaccine and weren’t at risk of getting seriously ill if they tested positive.
That’s wildly incorrect, of course, but it didn’t stop the comedian and mixed martial arts fan from delivering this pile of absolute horse s**t live on air (below):
“People say, do you think it’s safe to get vaccinated? I’ve said, yeah, I think for the most part it’s safe to get vaccinated. I do. I do. But if you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I’ll go no. Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person? 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.”
Immediately, the backlash was swift and severe. None other than Dr. Anthony Fauci himself — the U.S. government’s infectious disease and pandemic lead throughout the entire coronavirus ordeal — went on Today early this week in response. On the daytime talk show, Fauci told host Savannah Guthrie straight-up that Rogan’s assertion was “incorrect,” and slammed the podcaster for his anti-vaxx angle. News outlets, social media influencers, and other celebs (along with actual scientists like Fauci) blasted Rogan’s ignorance and seeming anti-vaccine sentiment.
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The backlash got so loud that on Thursday, in another new episode of his podcast, the 53-year-old host finally thought better of things and tried to do some damage control. Speaking with a new guest — this time comedian Andrew Santino — Rogan reacted strongly to all the criticism he’s been receiving over his anti-vaccine stance for young, healthy people over the last week.
The former Fear Factor host ranted in the new episode (below):
“My parents were vaccinated. I just said that if you’re a young, healthy person that you don’t need it. Their argument was, you need it for other people … But that’s a different argument. That’s a different conversation. I’m not a doctor, I’m a f**king moron, and I’m a cage-fighting commentator who is a dirty stand-up comedian. I’m drunk most of the time, and I do testosterone and I smoke a lot of weed. I’m not a respected source of information, even for me … But I at least try to be honest about what I’m saying.”
A “f**king moron”? OK! Hey, man, you said it. But Rogan was far from finished at that point… He continued, explicitly trying to absolve himself of any responsibility of sharing correct health information with his massive podcast audience:
“When I say something stupid, I’m not thinking about what I’m going to say before I say it. I’m just saying it. I don’t have an off air and on air voice, I have me. This is it. I got through the f**king net and I’m swimming in open waters. If you say you disagree with me, I probably disagree with me too. I disagree with me all the time. If someone said, ‘Yeah, young healthy 21-year-old people who eat well and exercise are not at high risk of coronavirus but you should think about other people’ then I would say, well that’s a different argument and yes, that makes sense.”
Oooookay… There’s a lot to take in there.
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But first, one last rant.
The longtime podcaster then set his sights on the media, criticizing news outlets over “clickbait” journalism that, in his opinion, unfairly sensationalized his comments:
“The problem is today, everything is all headlines and and highlights and its all clickbait, which is fine. That’s the business. I have a deep respect for real journalism. I love Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi and people that stick their f**king neck out and do real journalism. But there’s a lot of people out there that have to make a f**king living. And what’s the best way to make a living, well here’s one way: take a jacka** like me and go over this three-hour drunken, ridiculous podcast. A lot of times we’re drinking or are high, and we say stupid s**t. I get that. If you mine that and make money off that, more power to you. I don’t care.”
Yeah, whatever. Here’s video of that (kind of?) walk-back attempt and (not-at-all) apology that really just turned into another rant:
This guy…
Look, y’all, it’s actually really simple: Rogan can whine and complain about how he’s not supposed to be taken seriously and he’s just shooting the s**t with his buddies on a livestream, but the truth is, he is taken seriously by MILLIONS of listeners! He has the most famous podcast in the world! There’s a reason Spotify gave him $100 million to come over to their platform, so he can’t act now like he’s just a random “f**king moron” who has no responsibility over what happens on his show!
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To turn around and claim he has no sway over listeners is total bull s**t, too! There are millions of people — many of them impressionable young men, the exact “healthy 21-year-old” audience Joe referenced in his initial anti-vaxx comments — who take his word as gospel. With that comes some level of accountability! And that means when you f**k up like this, you own up to it, apologize, and tell the truth about the science, not whine about “clickbait”!
(Of course, it’d also be helpful if Joe made some effort not to f**k up like this and wade dangerously into bizarre conspiracy theories in the first place, too, but we digress…)
UGH!!!
What do U think of Joe Rogan, Perezcious readers?? What responsibility does he have to his audience, and to the truth?? Should there be consequences (from Spotify, for example) for behavior like this?!
Sound OFF about it with your take, down in the comments (below)…
[Image via The Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube]
The post Self-Proclaimed 'F**king Moron' Joe Rogan (Kind Of) Walks Back Stupid Anti-Vaccine Comments appeared first on Perez Hilton.
