Joe Rogan has released a response video out of the blue after facing a global backlash. Photo / Getty Images
Joe Rogan has released a response video out of the blue after facing a global backlash. Photo / Getty Images
Podcast host Joe Rogan has released a nine-minute response to Spotify addressing last week's controversy, which saw music icons Neil Young and Joni Mitchell ditch the platform over misinformation complaints.
Rogan has faced repeated calls for his podcast's cancellation after interviewing US cardiologist Peter McCullough and vaccine scientist Dr Robert Malone last month.
The 54-year-old discussed controversial topics surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, including information suppression, vaccine efficacy, suppression of early treatment medication and informed consent over the course of two three-hour interviews.
Spotify responded on Monday, revealing it would be introducing tags on certain content advising listeners to rely on their own doctor's advice.
Rogan admitted he "absolutely gets things wrong", promising viewers he would endeavour to find a "counter" guest shortly after controversial topics were discussed on his podcast.
He also welcomed Spotify's move to place tags on controversial topics regarding Covid-19.
"The disclaimer says you should speak to your physician and the opinions the (guests) express are contrary to the opinions of experts. I'm very happy to have that," he said.
Rogan insisted his only goal was to interview interesting people on topics of the hour, and claimed much of how he was being perceived came from people forming opinions before actually viewing the podcasts in full.
"I wanted to make this view because I think there is a lot of people who have a distorted perception of what I do, maybe based on soundbites or headlines of disparaging articles.
Rogan posted the video on his Instagram account.
"The podcast has been accused of spreading 'dangerous misinformation', mainly about two episodes. Dr Peter McCullough is a cardiologist and is the most published physician in his field in history. Dr Robert Malone owns nine patents on the creation of mRNA technology.
"Both of these people are very highly credentialed, highly accomplished people who have opinions who differ from the mainstream narrative. I wanted to hear what their opinion is."
Calls for Spotify to cancel Rogan's US$100M deal
A petition from 270 "experts" in the medical field to cancel Rogan's US$100 million deal with Spotify surfaced shortly after, with iconic musicians like Young and Mitchell opting to publicly place an ultimatum to the streaming platform to either keep their discographies online, or Rogan.
Rogan addressed his problem with the term "misinformation", citing the rapidly changing landscape of data and research when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The problem I have with the term misinformation, especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as misinformation a short while ago, are now accepted fact.
"For instance, eight months ago, if you said if you get vaccinated you can still get Covid and spread Covid, you would be removed from certain social media 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 is openly and repeatedly stated on CNN. If you said 'I think it's possible Covid-19 came from a lab', you would have been banned from many platforms. Now that's on the cover of NewsWeek."
"All of those theories that were at one point in time banned, were openly discussed by those two men that were on my podcast, who have been accused of dangerous misinformation."
"I'm interested in telling the truth and finding out what the truth is. I'm interested in talking to people with different opinions. I'm not interested in talking to people with one perspective."
Epidemiologist weighs in on controversial podcasts
University of California associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics Vinay Prasad sought to clear the air on the topics discussed in the controversial podcasts, addressing the main claims made by both Dr McCullough and Dr Malone over the course of the six hours of podcasts.
Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over the Rogan misinformation on his podcasts. Photo / AP
Dr Prasad, who hosts a medical show on YouTube with 100,000 followers, criticised efforts to censor "misinformation" in the scientific community, saying it was better to answer false claims rather than silence them.
He also cited the two polarising figures' medical credentials.
"Malone is a physician who has worked in molecular biology and drug development for decades," he said in a 3000-word column for UnHerd. "McCullough was, until recently, an academic cardiologist and researcher.
"Both speakers made accurate and useful points on Rogan's podcast – as well as unsupported, speculative, alarmist and false ones," he wrote.
"The correct way to deal with incorrect ideas in biomedicine, if they rise to a level of prominence that warrants rebuttal, is to rebut them."
Dr Prasad also said that handing the role of censorship over to social media platforms and tech companies has created its own host of issues, as they are often "unaccountable" and susceptible to bias.
"This is especially true in science, where, as history shows us, consensus views can turn out to be false, while controversial or heretical ideas can be vindicated," he said.
"There is tremendous potential for abuse. The same tools used to suppress scientific 'misinformation' may some day be used to solidify political power and stifle dissent."
Dr Malone was removed from Twitter at the end of last year for violating the platform's rules, just one day before his appearance on Rogan's podcast.
But Dr Prasad argued that despite the cancellation, the polarising figure's voice is now more heard than ever.
"The efforts to censor Malone and McCullough have massively backfired, with both men gaining prominence and publicity from the attempts to shut down their speech," he said.
"More generally, I strongly disagree with efforts to censor scientists, even if they are incorrect, and no matter the implications of their words, as I believe the harms of censorship far exceed any short-term gains.
"Disagreement on these questions is natural, and attempts to suffocate 'harmful' speech run the risk of stifling critical debates, including by silencing third parties who may have important contributions but who fear the professional or reputational consequences of speaking up."
Suppression of early treatment medication
Dr McCullough has been vocal about trialling pre-existing medicines for early treatment of coronavirus.
"Both doctors allege that public health authorities have intentionally suppressed the use of these drugs," Dr Prasad said.
In addressing Dr Malone's claim that hospitals were rejecting early treatment medications because they profit when people are hospitalised, Dr Prasad said: "These are entirely false and insulting allegations, and Malone's in particular are flat-out conspiratorial.
"Academic hospitals attempted all sorts of disparate treatment protocols in the hopes of helping sick patients. Many physicians did not wait for randomised control trials – the gold standard of medicine – to act; they simply acted. In fact, a Harvard hospital recommended hydroxychloroquine prior to randomised data."
In Australia, NSW Health's current advice for treating Covid-19 at home is to take paracetamol, ibuprofen, get some bed rest and only seek medical help when your infection becomes severe. For high-risk patients, the use of sotrovimab, an IV infusion, was approved last year.
And this month, two new oral medicines, Paxlovid and Lagevrio, have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) with doses expected to arrive in Australia in the coming weeks.
Boosters, myocarditis and vaccine discussion
Both Dr McCullough and Dr Malone shared scepticism over the current crop of vaccines being used worldwide, claiming the risks and side effects were being downplayed.
Both have warned against recommending or requiring boosters for the general population, citing the lack of data on the long-term effects of current vaccine technologies when applied to billions of people.
Dr Prasad said it is "perfectly valid to question the wisdom of boosters, at least in young people".
"Such concerns are not limited to the fringe," he said, referencing recent moves by France and Germany to suspend the use of Moderna in males under 30 due to the amplified risk of heart issues such as myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle.
"Like Malone, I have seen researchers smeared as 'anti-vaxxers' for simply suggesting that myocarditis is a real safety concern, or that we don't know the optimal duration and dosing strategy of vaccination, particularly for young and healthy people and those who have recovered from infection.
"Malone and Rogan are correct that the media dismisses concerns over myocarditis by claiming that most cases are 'mild', when in fact it is too early for us to know the full effects."
