Joe Rogan's COVID treatment blasted by CNN medical analyst: 'He's not helping matters'

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner laid into influential podcast host and comedian Joe Rogan on Don Lemon Tonight Wednesday. In an Instagram post earlier in the day, Rogan revealed that he has COVID-19, and went on to list the multiple unproven or disproven drugs he took in an attempt to fight the virus.

In the video, Rogan said, “Turns out I got COVID, so we immediately threw the kitchen sink at it. All kinds of meds. Monoclonal antibodies, Ivermectin, Z-Pak, Prednisone, everything.”

Rogan walked back anti-vaccination comments he made earlier this year, saying, “I am not a doctor. I am a f**king moron.” Reiner quoted that statement and said he doesn’t “quibble with that” before moving on to Rogan’s latest remarks.

“He’s, again, causing a great deal of public disservice,” Reiner said, “when he describes a completely jumbled, sort of self-created medical regimen that he's on right now.”

Reiner then went on to explain why each medicine Rogan named won’t work in this situation. Of ivermectin, the horse dewormer that has recently become popular among some who refuse to get vaccinated, Reiner flat out said that it does not work for COVID and “we know that.” Reiner said that monoclonal antibodies are not for Rogan, they’re for people with mild to moderate symptoms at high risk of progression, and that it doesn’t seem like Rogan falls into that category. Reiner said that Z-Pak is antibacterial which in no way will work for a viral illness, and that prednisone is for hospitalized patients on oxygen therapy.

“He’s promoting, kind of a crazy jumble of, you know, sort of folk remedies and internet-prescribed drugs. It's, again, dangerous now,” Reiner said. “He should have more sense. After encountering the disease, and again, I hope he does well and gets well quickly, he’s not helping matters when he promotes this sort of nonsense therapeutic mix.”

Rogan is just the latest in a string of COVID skeptics to be stricken with the virus, which Reiner hopes will compel him to push vaccination.

“This is the missed opportunity for people like Mr. Rogan,” Reiner said. “He has all of these listeners, and the people that are listening to him are the least vaccinated group in the United States, sort of this 18 to 30-year-old group, people who think they're invulnerable who have listened to him, and who have decided they don't need to be vaccinated. He has the ear of these people. He could be a force for vaccinating this country, for putting the virus down by simply saying, ‘You know something? I was wrong.’”

Rogan recently struck a huge deal with Spotify, and reaches millions of people over multiple platforms. Don Lemon believes Rogan has a responsibility to tell the truth about COVID.

“As someone who has that huge a platform — what does he have, 13 million followers on Instagram and however many people listen to his podcast — he has a responsibility to tell people the truth, and to help people,” Lemon said. “Quite honestly, in this environment when there’s a global pandemic, to tell people to get vaccinated, to keep themselves healthy.”

Lemon also pointed out that not everyone can afford all the treatments Rogan tried, which also includes an NAD drip and a vitamin drip.

“All of that costs money, the vaccine is free,” Lemon said. “Joe Rogan has a lot of money. I’m sure a lot of people who listen to him don’t have a lot of money.”

Don Lemon Tonight airs weeknights at 10 p.m. on CNN.

What Chris Cuomo point out the hypocrisy of Republicans slamming Biden over Afghan refugees:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.