Joe Rogan doesn't appreciate it when media outlets cherry-pick his lengthy interviews for confrontational moments.
This week, it was right-wing media the popular podcast host appeared to be calling out, after a number of prominent conservative outlets shared snippets from Rogan's more than three-hour discussion with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
In particular, several publications seized on a contentious back-and-forth over Rogan's personal use of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment — an unproven use which the FDA has discouraged.
At one point, Rogan even accused CNN of "lying" about his use of the drug, after at least one anchor said he was taking "horse de-wormer." Rogan maintains that he was prescribed ivermectin — the human version — by a doctor.
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"I can afford human drugs, motherf***er," he added at one point.
The clip spread like wildfire across social media — thanks to headlines from Fox News, Breitbart and a number of other conservative outlets — though Rogan clearly doesn't see the incident as representative of his entire conversation with Gupta.
"If you've only seen clips online you would think that @drsanjaygupta and I had a tense and uncomfortable encounter when we sat down for 3 hours," he wrote on his Instagram account. "The reality is that disagreement was a very small part of what was overall a very enjoyable conversation."
"Sanjay is a really nice person and I like him a lot. After our time together I consider him a friend," Rogan continued. "People on network TV don't have anything remotely similar to the kind of freedom I enjoy doing the podcast. For him to dive into my world and have an open form conversation with no restrictions took real courage, and I appreciate it very much."
Joe Rogan asks Sanjay Gupta if it bothers him that CNN outright lied about Rogan taking horse dewormer to recover from covid. This is fantastic: pic.twitter.com/PEgJqIXhSD
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 14, 2021
According to Gupta, the major headline to come out of the interview was that Rogan claimed he almost got vaccinated, but didn't due to "logistical hurdles."
Going into the interview, Gupta had hoped he would be able to change Rogan's mind about COVID-19 vaccination. Despite his efforts ultimately proving unsuccessful, he wrote at CNN: "Truth is though, I am still glad I did it."
