Joe Rogan apologizes for discussing doctored tweet on Spotify podcast
ICU doctor Natalia Solenkova woke up to an image circulating Twitter of a message she never wrote.
Someone had created what appeared to be an image of a tweet from Solenkova, which said she will never regret getting the vaccine “even if it turns out I injected actual poison and only had days to live.” But Solenkova said she never wrote that message. The fake tweet got further amplified by others including Spotify podcast host Joe Rogan who spent about 11 minutes discussing the false tweet as if it were real.
“It’s a fabricated tweet from beginning to end,” Solenkova said in an interview, later adding, “This is absolutely like the worst accusation one can get, that you’re a physician and you’re knowingly, literally killing your patients.”
Rogan on Thursday night apologized after discussing a fake COVID-19-related tweet on his Spotify podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Rogan said part of the episode that referenced the tweet was deleted after he was informed the tweet was fake.
“The show was already out, so we initially decided to post a notice saying we got tricked, then later thought it best to just delete it from the episode,” Rogan tweeted on Jan. 5. “My sincere apologies to everyone, especially the person who got hoaxed.”
Spotify paid millions to lure Joe Rogan but now faces pressure from more than 200 doctors to hold him to account for spreading misinformation about COVID vaccines on his podcast.
Rogan’s apology comes a year after several musicians and scientists accused Rogan of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 on his podcast.
The doctored tweet claiming to be from Florida doctor Solenkova also said that she had gotten vaccinated out of love, “while antivaxxers did everything out of hate.”
Rogan spoke about the tweet as if it were real on his show, saying it’s “a fascinating perspective that this person claims to be about love, but has the most uncharitable view of people who didn’t get vaccinated” and “the idea that I didn’t get vaccinated out of hate, I find so ridiculous.”
The false tweet was pointed out by Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, who noted the doctor was now receiving harassment for the doctored tweet that was circulating the internet.
“Huge right wing accounts and even other doctors fell for this ridiculous, clearly photoshopped tweet and amplified it to millions,” Lorenz tweeted on Jan. 4. “Now Dr. Natalia is facing serious career harm because Joe Rogan and so many others on the right fell for this obvious false post.”
The news was reported by Vice and the Daily Beast.
Joe Rogan apologized on Instagram for saying the N-word in the past as Spotify removes early episodes of his show.
Spotify declined to comment.
Solenkova said she is exploring her legal options. She points out that Rogan apologized to “the person who got hoaxed.”
“He didn’t apologize to me that he defamed me, discredited me … and it’s still circulating, the video is still online, you can find it,” Solenkova said.
Since the false image circulated on Twitter, Solenkova has spent hours trying to flag the social media site to take down the fake content involving her but says the platform has not been receptive. She’s also received harassing messages from others, including disparaging tweets calling for her to be decertified and that she should go back to her home country of Russia, even though she is an American citizen.
She and her attorney said Rogan and his staff should have taken more time to fact-check the image of the fake tweet, which shows more characters than is currently allowed in a single tweet on Twitter.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Solenkova, who is pro-vaccine, said she became more outspoken about disinformation when she saw some patients come into the hospital misinformed.
“They would refuse treatment or they would try to dictate their treatment based on what they see or read in some disinformation outlets,” Solenkova said.
She said she treats all of her patients equally — regardless of their vaccination status.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” is one of the most popular podcasts exclusively on Spotify. On Friday, it ranked No. 1 on Spotify’s top U.S. podcasts charts. The Swedish streamer signed a licensing deal with Rogan in 2020 to exclusively bring his podcast to Spotify.
Last year, several musicians, led by Neil Young, boycotted Spotify over concerns about COVID-19 misinformation on Rogan’s podcast.
In response, Spotify released more details about its content moderation policies , introduced a new labeling system for COVID-19 related-content and removed some old episodes of the podcast. Rogan also apologized for saying the N-word on his podcast, after musician India Arie voiced concerns.
As Spotify grows its podcast empire, it is continuing to lean into podcasts by prominent newsmakers, influencers and filmmakers such as Jordan Peele.
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