Joe Rogan on Thursday night apologized after discussing a fake COVID-19-related tweet on his Spotify podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Rogan said part of the episode that referenced the tweet was deleted after he was informed the tweet was fake.
“The show was already out, so we initially decided to post a notice saying we got tricked, then later thought it best to just delete it from the episode,” Rogan tweeted on Twitter on Jan. 5. “My sincere apologies to everyone, especially the person who got hoaxed.”
Rogan’s apology comes a year after several musicians and scientists accused Rogan of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 on his podcast.
The doctored tweet claimed to be from a Twitter user Natalia Solenkova, an intensive care doctor in Florida. It said that she had gotten vaccinated out of love, “while antivaxxers did everything out of hate.”
Rogan spoke about the tweet as if it were real on his show, saying it’s “a fascinating perspective that this person claims to be about love, but has the most uncharitable view of people who didn’t get vaccinated” and “the idea that I didn’t get vaccinated out of hate, I find so ridiculous.”
The false tweet was pointed out by Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, who noted that the doctor was now receiving harassment for the doctored tweet that was circulating the internet.
“Huge right wing accounts and even other doctors fell for this ridiculous, clearly photoshopped tweet and amplified it to millions,” Lorenz tweeted on Jan. 4. “Now Dr. Natalia is facing serious career harm because Joe Rogan and so many others on the right fell for this obvious false post.”
The news was reported by Vice and the Daily Beast.
Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” is one of the most popular podcasts exclusively on Spotify. On Friday, it ranked No. 1 on Spotify’s U.S. top podcasts charts. The Swedish streamer signed a licensing deal with Rogan in 2020 to exclusively bring his podcast to Spotify.
Last year, several musicians, led by Neil Young, boycotted Spotify over concerns about COVID misinformation on Rogan’s podcast.
In response, Spotify released more details about its content moderation policies, introduced a new labeling system for COVID-19 related-content and removed some old episodes of the podcast. Rogan also apologized for saying the N-word on his podcast, after musician India Arie voiced concerns.
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