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Saturday, February 12, 2022

Jon Stewart Defends Joe Rogan


 Jon Stewart is coming to the defense of fellow podcaster Joe Rogan over the uproar surrounding “misinformation” about vaccines that has prompted calls for Spotify to sever ties with its $100 million star, reports The NY Post.

Stewart, the former star of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” who is now hosting his own podcast on Apple’s streaming service, said Thursday that “canceling” Rogan would be akin to banning Stewart from television for his opposition to the Iraq war in 2003.

“The New York Times, right, was a giant purveyor of misinformation, and disinformation,” Stewart said of the newspaper’s editorial support for the Iraq war.

“And that’s as vaunted a media organization as you can find, but there was no accountability for them.”

No such weapons were ever found in Iraq after American troops removed Saddam from power and installed a friendly government in Baghdad.

Stewart said Thursday that while he was “very vocal” in opposing the Iraq war in 2003, he was in the minority.

“Couldn’t I have gone down and fallen down this — if Viacom or Comedy Central had wanted to censor me — or had wanted to take me off the — look, I’m not owed a platform. Nobody is,” he said.

Stewart then added: “But my point is, these are shifting sands, and I think I get concerned with, well, who gets to decide?”


Rogan has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks after rocker Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify to protest the podcaster’s show. Young and others have assailed Rogan for interviewing medical officials who have been accused of “spreading vaccine misinformation.”

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