While CNN once blasted podcaster Joe Rogan for supposedly spreading misinformation around COVID-19 and taking horse de-wormer to treat the virus, it appears the news outlet might have an obsession with the comedian. Again, CNN continuously calls for Rogan to be censored and de-platformed as he allows guests like Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Peter McCullough to speak on his show. But although CNN might not approve of Rogan’s narrative, they apparently can’t get enough of him as they recently aired an entire segment about what makes Rogan so popular. And sadly, the segment wasn’t a joke. 

One of the speakers in the Rogan segment was Gabriel Wisnewski-Parks, who is a researcher in the Department of Communication Studies at UNC Greensboro. He claimed to have spent hundreds of hours listening to Rogan and deciphering what makes him so popular. He stated, “What makes him so magnetic to his audience is his very vocal resistance to tribalism.” 

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Noting that Rogan has had a wide range of guests on his show like Alex Jones and Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, Wisnewski-Parks said, “One other connection we can make that I don’t think should be overestimated is Joe Rogan’s background as a stand-up comedian, this archetype of the comedian as the truth-teller.” 

Although praising him for a brief moment, Wisnewski-Parks quickly pointed out the dangers of Rogan’s platform. “Joe Rogan’s podcast absolutely has the potential to be dangerous, especially when we’re talking about communication over a public health issue. But it can be just as dangerous if we’re going to start censoring because we need to figure out how to keep open those lines of communication in a way that is both critical and willing to question Joe Rogan’s authority but at the same time recognizes that his appeal and his popularity are already entrenched in his audience. And that’s not going anywhere.”

Kat Rosenfield, a culture writer, also added her input, saying the  “audience feels they’re being trusted to draw their own conclusions, and that stands in really stark contrast the way that a lot of other outlets have sort of shifted in the direction of covering the news and analyzing the news in a way that feels that its really pushing the audience towards making the proper conclusions.” 

Believing their segment to be newsworthy, a writer for the Daily Wire, Virginia Kruta, shredded the entire idea.”Someone unironically researched ‘Joe Rogan’s appeal,’ and someone at CNN greenlighted this segment. It’s not possible to mock this any more than it mocks itself.”

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Becket Adams of the Washington Examiner added, “I may or may not have laughed out loud at the fact CNN had to bring in a third party expert to explain ratings and consumer interests.”