Joe Rogan has backtracked his comments telling young adults not to get the COVID-19 vaccine on his hugely popular podcast show by telling his fans he is ‘not a respected source of information.’
The former Fear Factor host, 53, had said on an episode last week of The Joe Rogan Experience – the most popular podcast in the world on Spotify – that young adults should not get the vaccine.
Rogan’s comments earned backlash from the White House and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who called his previous comments ‘incorrect.’
The hit podcaster has now released a new episode walking back his prior comments about the vaccine after the backlash from Fauci and revealed that he was scheduled to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before it was paused by the CDC.
Joe Rogan has backtracked on his comments telling young adults not to get the COVID-19 vaccine on his hugely popular podcast show
‘It’s not being a sheep, there’s some legitimate science behind it. I just said that I don’t think that if you’re a young healthy person, that you need it,’ Rogan said on Thursday to his guest, comedian Andrew Santino.
‘This is the thing about this whole thing about people being upset about me. I’m not an anti-vax person, in fact, I said I believe they’re safe and I encourage many people to take them. My parents were vaccinated.’
He continued: ‘Their argument was, you need it for other people. That’s a different argument.’
Rogan added that his comments are ‘not planned’ after discussing the vitamins and medications he takes, including testosterone therapy.
‘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,’ Rogan said.
‘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.’
Rogan then complained about journalists who had reported on his comments, condemning the news as ‘headlines’ and ‘clickbait.’
‘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,’ Rogan said.
‘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 their podcast – go over this three hour drunken, ridiculous podcast.’
Rogan continued: ‘A lot of times we’re drinking or are high, and we say stupid sh*t. I get that. If you mine that and make money off that, more power to you. I don’t care.’
Rogan, who has also worked as a longtime UFC interviewer and color commentator, said he was scheduled to get the J&J shot as a UFC employee before it was paused.
‘I was going to get the vaccine, I was scheduled to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The UFC had allocated a certain amount of vaccines for all their employees,’ he said.
Rogan then said he could not get the vaccine because the J&J shot was pulled.
‘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,’ he said.
Rogan comments in the April 23 episode came when more than 80% of Americans over the age of 65 have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine but just a third of people between 18 and 29 have received at least one dose.
‘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 had said.
‘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?’
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