Spotify’s Joe Rogan promotes anti-vaccine rally with serial misinformer Robert Malone
The rally is sponsored in part by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s group
Written by Alex Paterson
Published
On the December 31 edition of his Spotify podcast, Joe Rogan invited scientist and COVID-19 misinformer Robert Malone to promote the upcoming Defeat The Mandates D.C. rally, which aims “to end the vaccine mandates” and other public health measures implemented during the pandemic.
Malone has repeatedly spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, including falsely claiming that “it's the unvaccinated that are at risk from the vaccinated.” Rogan has repeatedly spread lies about the coronavirus and vaccines on his Spotify podcast.
The Defeat The Mandates D.C. rally’s sponsors include Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense and The Unity Project, whose leadership board includes a veritable array of COVID-19 misinformers, including Peter McCullough, Paul Alexander, Tess Lawrie, and Pierre Kory.
Notably, Rogan invited Malone back to promote the anti-vaccine rally after the two had already concluded the podcast episode, with Rogan stating, “So, folks, we actually went outside and talked, and Robert realized that he had forgot to tell everybody about this rally.” Malone then shared details of the rally and stated, “Our objective is to end the vaccine mandates. And also, no vaccine passports. No vaccination for healthy children.”
Interestingly, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) entered the podcast episode’s transcript into the Congressional Record but did not include the final section of the transcript when Rogan and Malone promoted the anti-vaccine rally.
Citation From the December 31, 2021, edition of Spotify's The Joe Rogan Experience
JOE ROGAN (HOST): Thanks for everything. Bye everybody.
…
So, folks, we actually went outside and talked, and Robert realized that he had forgot to tell everybody about this rally – and then I picked up Snoop, who’s with me now. So there is a rally, January 23, where is it? You want to give us the details?
ROBERT MALONE: Washington, D.C., between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. So this is the “Defeat the Mandates: An American Homecoming Rally.” And thanks a lot for letting me put the plug in. The website is www.defeatthemandatesdc.com. So this is not about being anti-vaccines. It's about being anti-mandates, and our hope is that we bring people together. I know that’s one of your core messages. People from every walk of life, every party, every religion, every ethnic background, Democrat, Republican, vaccinated, unvaccinated. A thing that we can agree on is personal liberty and the right of people to make their own choice. And that’s what this rally is about is to resist these mandates of the vaccine, whether you believe in it or don’t believe in it, I hope that you believe in the integrity and freedom of your fellow man and woman to make their own bodily choices.
So this is going to be part of a same-day, worldwide rally for freedom that’s going to come across the entire world.This is in Australia, in Europe, in U.K., and in the United States for the first time. So we ask that you join us. We’re asking – our objective is to end the vaccine mandates. And also, no vaccine passports. No vaccination for healthy children. No to censorship. No to limits on reasonable debate and this censorship and propaganda that we’re constantly bombarded with. We believe in the power of natural immunity. We believe and insist on informed consent. And we insist on allowing doctors and patients making decisions without interference together. So, Joe, thank you for allowing me to correct my grievous error here.
ROGAN: No worries, we realized it.
Rogan’s podcast is broadcast exclusively on Spotify and was the most popular podcast on the platform in 2021 and 2020. As The Washington Post has noted, “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, Rogan reaches nearly four times as many people as prime-time cable hosts such as Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC.”
Despite Rogan repeatedly espousing misinformation and bigotry to his large audience, Spotify has refused to take any action to quell Rogan’s sexist, racist, and harmful commentary.