In January, Spotify removed podcast host Pete Evans for spreading misinformation, saying it bans the promotion of "misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health." Now, onlookers are waiting to see if and how that policy will apply to its most popular podcast host. Joe Rogan claimed healthy young people don't need a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday's episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, a Spotify exclusive. "I think for the most part it's safe to get vaccinated," Rogan said. "But if you're like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I'll go no," Rogan continued, noting his two children had developed only minor symptoms after getting COVID-19, per CNN. "If you're a healthy person, and you're exercising all the time, and you're young, and you're eating well, like, I don't think you need to worry about this."
Rogan said he was not "diminishing" the deaths of children due to COVID-19. "I'm very sorry that that happened" but "I'm saying the personal experience that my children had with COVID was nothing." Per Variety, he added COVID-19 is "not statistically dangerous for children … yet people still want you to get your child vaccinated, which is crazy to me." Media Matters flagged the comments before Dr. Anthony Fauci responded Wednesday, telling the Today show that Rogan's take would be fine "if you want to only worry about yourself and not society," as even without symptoms, a young person could infect someone else. He said young people should "absolutely" get vaccinated to prevent dire outcomes, per the Hill. There's been no comment from Spotify, which has quietly removed 42 episodes of Rogan's podcast since acquiring it last year, per Digital Music News. (Rogan previously apologized for spreading misinformation about Oregon wildfires.)
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