Aussie fact checks Joe Rogan live on air

Josh Szeps, who has previously hosted Weekend Breakfast on ABC News, appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience for a wide-ranging chat with the UFC commentator and comedian.

But things got heated when the conversation turned to myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart.

In a clip that’s gone viral, Rogan stated there was an adverse risk of myocarditis among young boys associated with Covid-19 vaccines.

Szeps responded with a fact check of his own, revealing young boys were far more likely to experience heart inflammation after a coronavirus infection than after vaccination.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Rogan responded.

“It is,” Szeps said.

“Let’s look that up, because I don’t think that’s true,” Rogan said.

The duo then examined a New Scientist article that backed up Szeps’ assertion.

The article stated that a preliminary study suggested heart inflammation is six times more likely to occur after catching Covid than having the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Szeps later wrote on Twitter, “Well, [Joe Rogan] and I chatted for 185 minutes. Even when we disagree, I love the hell out of that curious puppy. Tune in if you dare.

The duo also clashed over claims from US commentators that Australia is like a “concentration camp” due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Szeps said the tone of the conversation regarding restrictions – from people like citizen journalist Tim Pool – was concerning.

“It’s become a lot harder for people like me to go ‘let’s look at the human rights trade-offs, let’s look at the health trade-offs, let’s try to assess what’s reasonable and what’s not reasonable, when you’ve got all this chatter coming from some of these alt-right people who are saying like literally…”

Rogan then cut him off and said Tim Pool was not alt-right.

“And Maajid [Nawaz] is not alt-right either,” Rogan continued.

“That’s an unfair assessment… you’re using that pejorative to dismiss what they’re saying.”

Rogan said Americans were concerned about the situation in Australia.

“You would think of Australia as this wild free place, and you see that, and you go OMG they’re reverting back to the way they were,” Rogan said.

Szeps said some people were not doing enough fact checking before making comments about the situation in Australia.

“Unless you call them concentration camps and accept that Australia is on a path to become a fascist authoritarian dictatorship, there’s nothing to even talk about.”

The conversation also turned to whether aliens would interfere with human life and whether social media algorithms should be regulated.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, Rogan has come under fire for his criticism of Covid vaccines.

In September last year, he told his 13.4milllion Instagram followers he tested positive to Covid and was using the highly controversial livestock drug ivermectin as a way to treat the virus, as well as a cocktail of other medications.

”Monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin, Z-pak (zithromax), prednisone, everything, and I also got an NAD drip and a vitamin drip and I did that three days in a row,” said Rogan.

Commonly used as a horse de-wormer, usage of the drug to treat Covid has been widely blasted by doctors and medical boards including Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The Joe Rogan Experience – the world’s largest podcast – is streamed exclusively on Spotify and draws an estimated 11 million listeners per episode.

Originally published as Josh Szeps fact checks Joe Rogan live on podcast