Podcaster Joe Rogan slammed CNN for the network’s coverage of his recent coronavirus diagnosis and revelation that he’s taking ivermectin among a number of other drugs to treat the disease.
“Bro, do I have to sue CNN?” Rogan asked during a recent episode of his podcast. “They’re making shit up. They keep saying I’m taking horse dewormer. I literally got it from a doctor. It’s an American company. They won the Nobel Prize in 2015 for use in human beings and CNN is saying I’m taking horse dewormer. They must know that’s a lie.”
Rogan last week said in a video statement posted on social media he had tested positive for the virus and after a few days of feeling sick he was on the mend.
“So we threw the kitchen sink at it, all kinds of meds,” Rogan said.
The popular podcast host mentioned Z-Pak, prednisolone and ivermectin, which has been approved for use in humans for some conditions but is not recommended for the treatment of COVID-19.
CNN was one of many media outlets last week that covered Rogan’s announcement.
“A lot of people can say it,” Rogan added. “The internet can say it and who cares, but CNN is saying it, like Jim Acosta.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Americans late last month not to take ivermectin, a drug sometimes used to treat parasitic worm infections in humans and livestock.
“For one thing, animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which can weigh a lot more than we do—a ton or more. Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans,” the FDA said in a statement. “Many inactive ingredients found in animal products aren’t evaluated for use in people. Or they are included in much greater quantity than those used in people. In some cases, we don’t know how those inactive ingredients will affect how ivermectin is absorbed in the human body.”
Rogan said of CNN’s coverage of the drugs he took to treat his infection: “They’re trying to make it seem like I’m doing some whacky shit that’s completely ineffective, CNN was saying that I’m a distributor of misinformation.”