During the Wednesday edition of Spotify’s The Joe Rogan Experience, the controversial host discussed a local news broadcast in which the reporting anchor wore a mask.
He and his guests—comedians Shane Gillis, Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir—at first wondered why the female journalist was wearing a mask outside for the segment, but then said it appeared she was inside a studio in front of a green screen.
After Gillis asked when the segment was taped, Rogan replied it was last week before correcting himself to say it was this week.
“Why are they still doing this?” Normand asked.
“‘Cause they’re crazy,” Rogan said before calling COVID masks the “Democrats’ MAGA hat,” referring to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“The fact that she thinks she needs to wear the—for sure that lady is boosted and tested, and they’re working on a television show,” Rogan added.
Rogan has endured controversies in the past related to his opinions on COVID-19. Last year, he posted a video on Instagram in which he touted the use of ivermectin when he contracted the disease. Despite a large portion of the scientific community saying ivermectin—a drug commonly used to deworm livestock—is ineffective for the treatment of the virus, the podcaster still defended its use.
Guests on his show have also been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19, which caused high-profile artists such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to demand to have their music pulled from Spotify if the platform continued hosting his podcast.
More recently, Rogan encouraged business owners who were forced to close during the pandemic to vote for GOP candidates in the fall. Those comments led to a renewed call on social media for a boycott of his show, as well as mockery about his inaccurate prediction of a “red wave” of Republican support coming in the midterms.
During the discussion of masks on his podcast on Wednesday, Rogan joked that someday people in the future will review videos from the pandemic-era and question some of the decisions that were made.
Gillis then said that the news station with the masked anchor was based in California.
“Dude, in the [San Francisco] Bay everyone’s hiking with masks while alone. It’s just like they’re still holding onto it. It is a badge of honor,” Shaffir said.
Newsweek reached out to Rogan for comment.
