Joe Rogan and Dr. Sanjay Gupta had a consequential and newsmaking interview this week, in which Dr. Gupta conceded that CNN should not have accused Rogan of taking horse medicine. In a much less widely seen conversation, Gupta then spoke with CNN’s Don Lemon about that podcast, with dramatically different results.
Rogan, who took ivermectin for Covid last month, confronted Gupta during the podcast, saying, “They’re lying at your network about people taking human drugs, vs drugs for veterinary” treatment, holding up the actual medicine, from a human doctor for his human use, with no horses or worms having any say in it.
Dr. Gupta flatly conceded that “they shouldn’t have said” Rogan was taking horse medicine, telling Rogan, “If you got a human pill — because there were people that were taking it the veterinary medication and you’re not, obviously, you got it from a doctor — so that, it shouldn’t be called that.”
Still, when Lemon brought it up, the story changed.
“Ivermectin is a drug that is
In August, Mississippi did warn against taking “highly concentrated” over-the-counter veterinary ivermectin. But CNN didn’t say Rogan took a drug that is also used for horses.
Penicillin is a drug also used for horses, but nobody accuses someone of taking horse medicine if they take penicillin given to them by a doctor. If they took penicillin given to them by a veterinarian, at horse doses, that might be the story, but just taking normal people penicillin isn’t referred to as “taking horse antibiotics.”
The accusation made against Rogan — explicitly and ad nauseum — by CNN hosts was that he took the animal medication, not a drug that is also the basis for animal medication. There was no wiggle room.
• “He says he’s been taking the livestock dewormer ivermectin,” said Jim Acosta on September 5, just a short month or so ago. Dr. Anthony Fauci, with whom Acosta was speaking, made no effort to correct this.
• Anderson Cooper teased his September 1 segment on the subject by saying that Rogan “acknowledged taking a controversial treatment designed for animals.”
• In the same segment Cooper repeated that characterization, and fellow CNN host Brian Stelter called what Rogan took “a horse deworming medication that’s discouraged by the government.”
• Dr. Leana Wen, with whom they were both speaking, made no effort to correct this.
• Don Lemon on September 1 claimed Joe Rogan “says he took the deworming drug ivermectin that’s been touted by right wing groups” as a covid treatment.
• Dr. Jonathan Reiner, with whom Lemon was speaking, made no effort to correct this. The chyrons, likewise, simply claimed Rogan was referring to or using “horse dewormer.”
And last night, Don Lemon tried to argue that CNN merely treated ivermectin as something that is also used as horse medicine.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, with whom Don Lemon was speaking, made no effort to correct this. Nor did Lemon bring up the fact that Dr. Gupta specifically said — while in the room with Rogan — that it wasn’t so and they shouldn’t have said it.
Luckily for the American public, Dr. Gupta still managed to provide important information about the real vaccines, and to argue to audiences for healthy, lifesaving ways to treat or help prevent Covid in both interviews.
In that light, you could certainly argue that Dr. Gupta was simply being diplomatic on the “horse dewormer” fight, answering only the exact words the interviewers used. And you’d probably be right: Dr. Gupta is painstakingly
The CNN show hosts, on the other hand, were deliberate and relentless in their mockery. The chyrons were mocking, the commentary was mocking. They weren’t just reporting news or presenting information, they were expressing their derision through deliberate miscommunication or, to use a term you hear a lot these days, misinformation.
In almost every case the claims were made while talking CNN contributors who are actual doctors, but chose not to correct the hosts.
Joe Rogan confronted Dr. Gupta on the subject, showing him the medicine from a human for a human, and Gupta agreed it wasn’t horse dewormer, after which CNN’s Don Lemon subsequently and falsely claimed they were right all along, while using obfuscation to imply they never even really said it in the first place.
Despite the opportunity, CNN has made no effort to correct this.
This is dishonesty. This is contempt. This… is CNN.