Jon Stewart: Drama Over Spotify, Joe Rogan Is a 'Mistake'

Don't 'censor' him, 'engage,' Stewart advises
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2022 12:01 AM CST
Jon Stewart: Drama Over Spotify, Joe Rogan Is a 'Mistake'
Jon Stewart presents the Pat Tillman award for service on July 18, 2018, at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles.   (Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision/AP, File)

Don't count Jon Stewart among those deleting Spotify over its continued hosting of Joe Rogan's podcast. The former Daily Show host defended Rogan on Thursday on his own podcast, The Problem With Jon Stewart, Mediaite reports. Rather than attempting to "censor" Rogan, Stewart advised critics of his stance to "engage" with him—and indicated that, in his opinion, Rogan is a person willing to engage. Pointing to a recent episode in which Rogan and his guest differed on whether myocarditis is more common as a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine or COVID itself, Stewart pointed out that Rogan had a producer look it up, and then admitted his guest was actually right—myocarditis is more common as a symptom of COVID than as a vaccine side effect.

"If you are an ideologue or if you are a dishonest person, that is the moment—like Tucker Carlson in that situation never would have looked it up," Stewart said. "And would have given that look he gives like somebody is giving him a confusion enema. Like they’re just firing confusion up his a--. And Joe just went, 'I don’t know, okay, I didn’t get that.' And that to me says, oh, that’s a person that you can engage with."

He says the controversy over Rogan's show is "overblown," adding that no one seems to be taking issue with the fact that Eric Clapton is on streaming platforms, and he's a "psycho." Stewart did acknowledge, per Insider, "there's no question that there is egregious misinformation that's purposeful and hateful, and that being moderated is a credit to the platforms that run them." (You can listen to the full podcast on, yes, Spotify.)

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