Joe Rogan Claims He Has a Bigger Audience Than CNN After Accusing Network of Doctoring His COVID Video

Joe Rogan criticized CNN 's coverage of his controversial use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 back in 2021.

At the time, the podcast host had shared a video to his Instagram confirming he had the virus before revealing a number of medications he'd been prescribed to treat it. The news network later aired the footage themselves, however, Rogan accused them of editing the video to make him look more ill than he was.

"That’s crazy if you think you’re going to make me look yellow. Like, the video’s still on my Instagram, you f------ idiots," he retorted during a recent sit-down with comedian Akaash Singh . "Everybody can see what I really looked like."

“There’s still people who think I took veterinary medicine. There’s still people that think I was an idiot for taking ivermectin ," he continued. "There’s a bunch of people, they’re surface-level readers, they read headlines, they watch a quick clip on CNN. That’s their consumption of media."

Rogan noted "most people are not like that anymore." He pointed out that he believed people currently have a "keen understanding that these people are viciously corrupt and coordinated."

The former Fear Factor personality also claimed he wasn't concerned by the negativity from CNN due to the size of his audience.

"They didn’t understand that I have way more people that listen to my podcast than they have," he added. " Way more."

It's unclear if Rogan's podcast actually does have a higher viewership than the popular news network since both are broadcast on many different platforms with varying follower and viewer counts.

It was revealed earlier this year via Spotify that " The Joe Rogan Experience " had 14.5 million followers at the time. He also has roughly 16 million followers on YouTube and 19 million on Instagram.

Meanwhile, CNN announced they'd ranked #3 in cable network viewers in February of this year.

"Among adults 25-54, CNN ranked #10 among all cable networks," they wrote in a statement. "Further, CNN continues to reach the most viewers in cable news among P25-54. This strong linear performance is in addition to the growing audience on CNN Max and consistently strong audience engagement across CNN’s digital platforms."

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The announcement clarified that CNN was "the most visited digital destination" in "domestic and global unique user metrics" and reached 114 million "multiplatform U.S. unique visitors in January."