Twitter owner Elon Musk threw his support Saturday behind comedian Joe Rogan’s challenge for COVID-19 scientist Peter Hotez to debate vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.
Musk accused Hotez of being “afraid of public debate, because he knows he’s wrong” when Rogan doubled down on his debate proposal. Hotez, a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, first responded to Rogan’s request without providing a definitive answer on whether he would debate Kennedy. (RELATED: RFK Jr Tells Joe Rogan He Has To ‘Be Careful’ The CIA Doesn’t Assassinate Him)
He’s afraid of a public debate, because he knows he’s wrong
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 17, 2023
Rogan initially offered Hotez $100,000 to the charity of his choice to debate Kennedy after the scientist shared a Vice News article criticizing Rogan’s June 15 podcast episode with Kennedy. Hotez replied by telling Rogan, “you have my cell, my email, I’m always willing to speak with you.”
Hotez responded to Musk’s comment by calling him “monstrous” and defending his stance on vaccines. Musk clarified he is pro-vaccine but allegedly suffered side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine. Nonetheless, Musk said he believes Hotez should debate Kennedy.
First of all, I am generally pro vaccine. I have been vaccinated against pretty much everything, as have my kids.
Second, I think there is tremendous promise in synthetic mRNA. It is like medicine going from analog to digital.
That said, the world obviously went crazy with… pic.twitter.com/lQkqY8uvgT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2023
Musk, Rogan and their supporters continued to pressure Hotez on Twitter Saturday night into debating Kennedy on Rogan’s podcast.
“Joe if you are serious about addressing vaccines + the fact that 200,000 unvaccinated Americans needlessly perished during our awful delta/BA.1 Covid waves (including 40,000 in our state of Texas) because they fell victims to vaccine disinformation: I want to have that discussion,” Hotez told Rogan after the comedian’s second demand for a debate.
I’m happy to come on and clear the air. I respect you and your show. I don’t want an adversarial relationship, I think we can work well together
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) June 18, 2023
“I’m happy to come on and clear the air. I respect you and your show. I don’t want an adversarial relationship, I think we can work well together,” Hotez added.
Rogan attacked Hotez for his May 9 tweet accusing the comedian of being part of a “neofascist” coalition alongside Musk, Kennedy and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson. (RELATED: Left-Wing Activist Groups Try To Bully Twitter Advertisers After DeSantis’ Presidential Announcement)
To those misunderstanding what he’s saying, he’s NOT agreeing to debate @RobertKennedyJr. He’s just offering to come on my show by himself.
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 18, 2023
“To those misunderstanding what he’s saying, he’s NOT agreeing to debate @RobertKennedyJr. He’s just offering to come on my show by himself,” Rogan followed up. The comedian continued to amplify critics of Hotez such as journalist Alex Berenson, known for being skeptical of COVID-19 guidelines, and videographer Matt Orfalea.
Rogan also took issue with The Atlantic writer Tom Nichols for advising medical professionals to avoid debating Kennedy because he is a “conspiracy theorist.”
That would be a great suggestion if you could assure that the industry you were representing wasn’t completely captured by heartless monsters who have a history of some of the biggest criminal fines in human history because their deception has cost hundreds of thousands of people… https://t.co/fVlPdwCWrq
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 18, 2023
“It would be a great suggestion if the industry you were defending didn’t occasionally look at human beings as an opportunity to generate insane wealth regardless of the tragic consequences. But you can’t do that, so… maybe it would be a good idea to have a fucking debate,” Rogan asserted.
Musk continued to share his positive view of vaccines and debating those who are skeptical of vaccines.
“To be frank, we’re lucky to have modern medicine. I’d be dead from malaria if not for chloroquine & doxycycline. But, we should still question medicine, rather than considering it sacred. The entire foundation of science is to question it, thereby coming closer to the truth,” Musk tweeted in response to YouTuber Farzad Mesbahi.
“Any scientist who refuses to be questioned is anything but,” Musk tweeted, replying to another post by Mesbahi.
Musk reiterated his belief that vaccines are useful for fighting deadly diseases, despite his concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Look, I’m prepared to argue in favor of vaccines if you’d like. Do I think vaccines should be examined closely & mortality risk isn’t substantially reduced in America? Yes. However, you should definitely take vaccines if traveling to places where that disease is prevalent!” Musk said.
“But it was a mistake to push for so many Covid-19 booster shots (even the initial vaccine shot was overkill on quantity). There’s obviously risk of the immune system going out of control when it sees what what you’ve trained it to believe is a serious disease over & over again,” he added.
The charitable donation attached to Rogan’s debate proposal is now up to $600,000 because hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and other donors pledged additional funding to make the debate happen.