Tucker Carlson Defends Joe Rogan’s Controversial Advice on COVID Vaccines.
Podcast host Joe Rogan triggered a cascade of criticism when he told listeners of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that healthy, young people don’t need the vaccine, but Fox’s Tucker Carlson said Rogan’s comments were reasonable.
In the segment below on last night’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson defended popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who is facing backlash for telling young, healthy people not to get vaccinated for COVID.
Rogan told listeners during the April 23 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that if a 21-year-old asked him if they should get vaccinated, he would say no:
“I think you should get vaccinated if you’re vulnerable. I think you should get vaccinated if you feel like — my parents are vaccinated. I’ve encouraged a lot of people to get — and 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.
“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? Like, look, don’t do anything stupid, but you should take care of yourself. You should — if you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well, like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”
Rogan said both of his children have had COVID, and while not diminishing the experiences of others, the virus was “nothing.”
“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.”
Carlson defended Rogan, saying it was not crazy to suggest someone who’s not at risk forgo the vaccine.
“Yeah, so if you’re at risk, get the vaccine and protect yourself, and be happy with it. Be grateful we have the vaccine. And if you’re not at risk then maybe you don’t, is that a crazy point,” Carlson asked?
“The Joe Rogan Experience” runs on Spotify, which since it began hosting the podcast in September has removed 42 episodes for policy violations. Spotify did not respond to requests for comment on the latest Rogan controversy, but also did not remove the segment. According to The Verge, which cited an anonymous source, Spotify determined Rogan didn’t “come off as outwardly anti-vaccine” and did not explicitly tell people to not get vaccinated.
Sources familiar with the policy-enforcement process at Spotify said prohibited content applies to specific types of speech and context is factored into in moderation decisions.
Carlson devoted the rest of his segment to discussing college vaccine mandates, COVID immunity, vaccine passports and how some businesses may require vaccination as a condition to employment.
Watch the Tucker Carlson segment here (starting at 9:54):
