Joe Rogan, one of the world’s highest paid and most popular podcast hosts, is giving air to anti-vaccine narratives.
On his Spotify exclusive podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan told listeners that if a 21-year-old asked him if they should get vaccinated, he would suggest no.
“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,” Rogan said on the podcast. “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,” Rogan continued, “like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”
Since signing Rogan to a licensing deal reportedly worth more than $100 million, Spotify is no stranger to controversy spurred by the star’s remarks. Rogan apologized in September for spreading misinformation about the West Coast fires.
Spotify did not respond to a request for comment about Rogan’s recent episode.
Rogan, who was speaking with comedian Dave Smith on the episode, said his children both got Covid-19 but had minor symptoms.
“I hate to say that if someone’s children died from this. I’m very sorry that that happened. I’m not in any way diminishing that,” Rogan said. “But I’m saying the personal experience that my children had with Covid was nothing.”
Tech platforms have taken action against vaccine misinformation. Both Facebook and Twitter have removed false claims about Covid-19 vaccines. Spotify, as well, has removed misleading content including a podcast in March. A Spotify spokesperson said at the time, “Spotify prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health.”
Biden announced last week that his administration had achieved its target of 200 million coronavirus vaccinations during his first 100 days in office, with the U.S. entering “a new phase” of its vaccine campaign as shots become available across the U.S. to adults 16 and older.
And on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rolled out new guidance on the use of face masks — announcing that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks indoors or outdoors when in small groups with other fully vaccinated friends and family, and in some circumstances can go without masks even with unvaccinated people.
