Podcast giant Joe Rogan said he tested positive for COVID-19, prompting him to pursue unproven treatments and forcing him to postpone a stand-up comedy performance scheduled for this weekend.
The host of the immensely popular “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast revealed his recent COVID-19 diagnosis in a 98-second clip he shared Wednesday on Instagram.
“I got back from the road Saturday night feeling very weary. I had a headache and I just felt rundown,” Mr. Rogan said. “Just to be cautious, I separated from my family, slept in a different part of the house, and throughout the night I got fevers and sweats. And I knew what was going on. So I got up in the morning, got tested — and turns out I got COVID.”
Mr. Rogan has been skeptical of the federally approved vaccines administered to prevent illness and death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and it is unclear if he is vaccinated.
In the video clip, Mr. Rogan, 54, said he “threw the kitchen sink” at the problem upon testing positive for COVID-19 and turned to “all kinds” of treatments and therapeutics, unproven and otherwise.
More specifically, Mr. Rogan said he used a combination of medications including the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, which public health officials have recently strongly discouraged people from doing.
“Some unapproved COVID-19 treatments may cause serious harm,” reads a warning label Instagram applied to Mr. Rogan’s post on the platform. His video received nearly 5 million views by Thursday morning.
Ivermectin is typically prescribed to eliminate parasites in humans, livestock and other large animals. It has not proven to be effective at fighting COVID-19 and is potentially deadly in large quantities.
Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued alerts last month urging people not to use ivermectin to attempt to cure or prevent COVID-19.
Mr. Rogan said he also received monoclonal antibody treatment, which has been approved and proven helpful in fighting active COVID-19 infections, in addition to a number of other unproven therapeutics.
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the FDA said in a recent social media posting.
While feeling significantly better, Mr. Rogan said he was postponing a performance scheduled for this Friday in Nashville, Tennessee, where he planned to share the stage with stand-up comic Dave Chappelle.
Mr. Rogan hosted TV programs including “Fear Factor” and “The Man Show” before launching his successful podcasting career. Millions of people watch or listen to his program on a regular basis.
Previously, Mr. Rogan said in April that he believed young, healthy people do not require preventive COVID-19 vaccinations, triggering pushback from the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.
“That’s incorrect,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser, responded to Mr. Rogan when asked later. “You can get infected, and will get infected, if you put yourself at risk.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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