Getty Prince Harry slammed Joe Rogan during an appearance on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast.
Prince Harry joined the chorus of voices criticizing Joe Rogan for spreading misinformation on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Harry sat down with actor Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast on May 13 and took the opportunity to call out the UFC commentator, stand-up comedian and popular podcaster.
The podcast episode began with Harry asking Shepard and his co-host, Monica Padman, “What was your feeling about Joe Rogan’s comments,” about vaccinating. Shepard responded, “ridiculous. Obviously.” Shepard added, “I think what he said was ridiculous, but I also a little bit agree with him, like, ‘I f****** call fights. I’m an MMA announcer. I’m not Fauci. No one should be listening to my opinion on medical s***. So I agree with both sides. What he said was stupid.”
Rogan sparked controversy in late April when he said on his podcast that he doesn’t think healthy, young people need to worry about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Rogan added, “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 (vaccinated) 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.” The comments about healthy and younger people drew criticism from doctors, scientists and the White House, including Dr. Anthony Fauci. Rogan later clarified his comments and said people shouldn’t take advice from him.
Harry said, “I think the issue is in today’s world with misinformation just like endemic. You’ve got to be careful about what comes out of your mouth when it comes to that. Because news doesn’t just exist in just news anymore.” Shepard agreed, “You’re totally right.”
Harry continued, “It’s splattered all over the place so people who listen to Joe Rogan say, ‘Oh, if he says that.'” Harry said if Rogan doesn’t think people should listen to him or look to him for medical and scientific advice, “then just don’t say that.” He added, “Just stay out of it.”
The episode with Harry was released the same day that Shepard and Padman announced they would be joining Rogan and his JRE podcast as a Spotify exclusive. Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, also have an exclusive deal with Spotify. The audio streaming service has not commented about Rogan’s statements about vaccines or the criticism of him by fellow Spotify podcasters.
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Prince Harry Said ‘With a Platform Comes Responsibility’
During the conversation about Rogan, Padman said he should, “Just acknowledge that you are a person who people listen to. You are.” Harry said, “If you have a platform, with a platform comes responsibility.”
Shepard interjected, “But it is all very tricky. Like Oprah famously got sued by the meat industry for talking about Mad Cow Disease. That’s how her and Dr. Phil met. And part of me was like, ‘Yeah she has a huge platform and also she can have a f***** opinion about s***.’ She’s not like legally responsible if you decide to stop eating meat because of her opinion.”
He added, “How about this, what if I say, ‘When I was single I didn’t wear condoms as much as I should’ve.’ Does that become a thing that people, I’m not advising people no to.”
Harry said, “You can certainly share the opinion and say it’s, ‘My opinion.” Shepard said, “And I recognize it was stupid.” Padman said, “The implication is you should have done something different.” Harry said, “It all comes down to being responsible.”
Shepard said, like Rogan, “By the way, I have a libertarian bent to me. I have an individual rights bent to me.”
Rogan Admitted on His Podcast That He Says ‘Stupid S***’ & He’s Not Anti-Vax
Rogan addressed the controversy around his coronavirus vaccine comments on the April 29 episode of the JRE podcast, saying, “These are not planned statements. Let’s be real clear. When I say something stupid, I’m not thinking about what I’m going to say before I say it. I’m just saying it. I don’t have an off-air, an on-air voice, I have me. I got through the f****** net and I’m swimming in open waters. And that’s how I live.”
Rogan added, “The thing about this whole thing, people being upset at me, I didn’t say, I’m not an anti-vax person. In fact, I said I believe they’re safe, and I encourage many people to take them.”
He said, “The problem is today, everything is all headlines, and highlights and it’s all clickbait. Which is fine. … Usually we’re drinking or we’re high. And I say stupid s***. I get it. And if you mine that and you make money off of that. More power to you. I don’t care. I’m happy for you. Just don’t lie. Get a little clickbaity, we’re good.”
Rogan continued, “I’m not a doctor, I’m a f****** moron. And I’m a cagefighting commentator who is a dirty standup comedian. I just told you, I’m drunk most of the time. And I do testosterone and I smoke a lot of weed,” Rogan said. “I’m not a respected source of information, even for me. If I say things, I’m always going, ‘Check on that Jamie, I don’t know if that’s true,’” Rogan said, in a reference to his producer, Jamie Vernon. He added, “I do that all the time. But I at least try to be honest about what I’m saying.”
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