CBS “This Morning” co-hosts on Monday suggested podcast host Joe Rogan is responsible for deaths because he has on supposed “fringe” guests who talk about the pandemic, including vaccines and COVID-19 treatment.
The segment concerning Rogan’s “right” to the “First Amendment” opened with statistics on the death rate for vaccinated and boostered adults against those who are unvaccinated and closed with host Tony Dokoupil emphasizing that Rogan’s COVID-19 content is a “special category” because it’s a “life or death issue.”
“You have a First Amendment right to say what you want. You don’t have a First Amendment right to appear on a platform as large as Spotify. That’s the issue,” Dokoupil said. “Joe Rogan is correct that the medical world gets stuff wrong, but there’s a process by which the medical world corrects itself, and that process is not interviewing guys on the fringe of the medical world on your massive platform. That’s called irresponsible. It’s not censorship.”
“Editors are not censors, they’re ensuring quality,” Dokoupil offered.
Fellow host Gayle King said it was not enough for people to simply choose what they listen to and “turn off” Rogan, suggesting the solution be censorship of some kind. “The thing is, a lot of people do listen to it, and they’re getting false, incorrect information and that’s why it seems so dangerous,” she said.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast has “a huge reach,” noted host Nate Burleson.
“And it matters … it’s a life or death issue,” claimed Dokoupil. “That’s why it’s in a special category.”
WATCH:
Watch as 'CBS Mornings' suggest Joe Rogan is killing people via his podcast when talking about Covid, implying he's responsible for their deaths.
They add they SUPPORT free speech & the First Amendment — just not for Rogan to have *A* platform, calling his show "dangerous." pic.twitter.com/dzONwcPhVh
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 31, 2022
Rogan on Sunday night responded to criticism that his podcast is trafficking in so-called “misinformation.”
“One of the things that Spotify wants to do, that I agree with, at the beginning of these controversial podcasts, like specifically ones about COVID … put a disclaimer and say that you should speak with your physician and that these people and the opinions that they express are contrary to the opinions of the consensus of experts, which I think is very important, sure, have that on there,” Rogan told fans in a video posted to Instagram.
The host also explained his “problem” with the term “misinformation.”
“The problem I have with the term ‘misinformation,’ especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as ‘misinformation’ just a short while ago are now accepted as fact,” he said.
Related: What Joe Rogan Got Very Right In His Response To Spotify Drama — And The One Thing He Got Wrong