Is Joe Rogan an anti-vaxxer? A brief history of the controversial podcasters' comments about jabs

Neil Young has asked Spotify to remove his music over podcast host Joe Rogan airing vaccine-sceptical views on his shows hosted by the streaming service.

In an open letter sent to his management and record label, the legendary musician slammed Spotify, which paid $100m for rights to the podcast in 2020, for providing a platform for Rogan's views, and said it had "a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform".

"I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform," he wrote.

"I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines - potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.

Rogan has often courted controversy for making some rather unorthodox statements about vaccines and coronavirus in particular, but what exactly are his views?

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Here's everything we know:

Joe Rogan Media Matters / Joe Rogan

April 2021

On 23 April 2021, on an episode of his podcast, Rogan told listeners that he would not suggest the vaccine to a healthy 21-year-old. "If you're a healthy person, and you're exercising all the time, and you're young, and you're eating well...like, I don't think you need to worry about this."

In another instance that month, Rogan clarified that he was "not an anti-vax person".

"I believe they're safe and encourage many people to take them," he said, but did not back down on claims that young people did not "need" the vaccine.

"I'm not a doctor," he said. "I'm not a respected source of information, even for me."

October 2021

In October 2021, Rogan said he tried to get a Covid-19 vaccination in Las Vegas several months ago but missed the appointment because of scheduling conflicts.

But he added he believed it "would be better to get the virus" to achieve "amazing immunity". He said:

"You know what I think you should do? I think you should get vaccinated and then get sick. This is why: because then you got the vaccine that protects you from a bad infection and then you get Covid so then you get the robust immunity that's imparted from having the actual disease itself."

December 2021

In December 2021, Rogan hosted Dr Peter McCullough on his podcast, who is known for pushing debunked and misleading claims about Covid-19 and the vaccine.

He claimed that health officials withheld treatments for Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic in order to spread fear among the population and push the public to take a vaccine.

“Multi-drug therapy, as an outpatient, works substantially, and we’ve had a giant loss of life – a giant number – millions and millions of unnecessary hospitalisations,” he said.

Other comments

Aside from his comments on vaccines, Rogan once pushed a conspiracy theory that president Joe Biden didn't actually get his booster jab live on TV, and said he was treated with a “vitamin drip” and controversial horse deworming agent ivermectin when he became ill with the virus. It is not at all recommended that this particular drug is used for Covid...

As for vaccine passports, he was criticised for claiming that enforcing them meant the US was “moving one step closer to dictatorship”.

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