Joe Rogan challenges Dr. Peter Hotez to debate anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. on his podcast
Podcast host Joe Rogan challenged vaccine researcher Dr. Peter Hotez to debate presidential candidate and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he criticized the Democratic presidential candidate for doubling down on his controversial stance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last week.
Rogan pledged to donate $100,000 to a charity of Hotez’s choosing if he agreed to the appear with the political scion, who has launched a longshot bid to dethrone President Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary.
Rogan’s challenge, which has since been viewed over 25 million times, prompted Hotez to respond in a now-deleted tweet, which turned into a back-and-forth exchange.
“Be serious Joe, that’s what you throw for your hunting buddies on a weekend,” Hotez said. “A $50 million endowment (which You/Spotify/ RFK Jr can easily afford), not for me but so we can continue making low-cost patent-free vaccines for the world’s poor. Preceded by RFK Jr’s public apology.”
Twitter owner Elon Musk chimed in saying Hotez “hates charity” while Kennedy, agreed to a “respectful, congenial, informative debate that the American people deserve.’
“From all the online attacks I’m receiving after this absurd podcast, it’s clear many actually believe this nonsense,” Hotez tweeted on Saturday — along with a Vice News article claiming Spotify was no longer monitoring Rogan’s “vaccine misinformation” — including the conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism — after Kennedy’s interview on Rogan’s podcast.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no link between vaccines and autism.
During Rogan’s interview with Kennedy, released Thursday, Hotez was brought up as a point of discussion as the podcast host criticized the doctor for previously saying he did not take basic measures to help boost his immune system.
“To have a conversation with someone, who doesn’t take vitamins and is telling you, you have to take this medication, is like ‘this is a crazy conversation,’” Rogan said to Kennedy about his April 2020 interview with Hotez.
During that appearance, the former “Fear Factor” host grilled him over his personal health and lifestyle decisions. Hotez conceded “I’m not as cautious about my diet as I should be — I’m a junk foodoholic.”
Hotez, the director Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine, said he would be “happy to come on and clear the air, while also extending a counteroffer to Musk, inviting him to visit his vaccine laboratories and “learn more about our work.”
Rogan, calling the re-response “a non answer,” voiced his displeasure with the doctor calling him out instead of reaching out privately.
“I challenged you publicly because you publicly quote tweeted and agreed with that dogs–t vice article. If you’re really serious about what you stand for, you now have a massive opportunity for a debate that will reach the largest audience a discussion like this has ever had. If you think someone else is better qualified, suggest that person,” Rogan proclaimed.
Hotez, who acknowledged his deleted tweet was “unnecessarily provocative,” claimed he was hurt when Rogan and his guest labeled him as a “Pharma shill” before saying the comedian had his cell phone number and email, seemingly wanting to take the exchange offline.
Kennedy is trailing Biden by a margin of 62% to 15% among Democratic voters in a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll.
His longtime prominent anti-vax views were highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he railed against vaccines and pushed for use of ivermectin, a parasite treatment medicine, or anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus instead.
The Food and Drug Administration and medical experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci have warned against using the unauthorized drugs for COVID-19 treatment.
Rogan, himself, stumbled into controversy during the pandemic for using ivermectin to treat his COVID-19 infection. He also publicly questioned the wisdom of younger people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
Kennedy is one of two Democratic primary challengers to Biden alongside self-help author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson.
His anti-vaccine work has drawn a repudiation from members of his own family, with his sister, Kerry Kennedy, telling the Associated Press in 2021 that he is “completely wrong on this issue and very dangerous.”
The nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, both assassinated in the 60s, also told Rogan that he taking precautions to avoid being assassinated by the CIA, who he blamed for killing his uncle.
The US government has debunked that claim as a conspiracy theory, maintaining that convicted shooter Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the 1963 presidential murder.
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