YouTube, a popular video platform, confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that it removed an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. conducted by Canadian clinical psychologist and author Dr. Jordan B. Peterson.
The 95-minute and wide-ranging interview, called “Rekindling the Spirit of the Classic Democrat,” was published on June 5 but is no longer available on YouTube. Peterson and Kennedy discussed topics such as COVID-19 vaccines, and YouTube cited vaccine misinformation as the justification for censoring the interview in its response to the DCNF.
“We removed a video from the Jordan Peterson channel for violating YouTube’s general vaccine misinformation policy, which prohibits content that alleges that vaccines cause chronic side effects, outside of rare side effects that are recognized by health authorities,” a YouTube spokesperson told the DCNF. (RELATED: ABC News Censors RFK Jr. Interview Over Vaccine Claims)
Peterson and Kennedy announced the removal of the YouTube video Sunday on Twitter, with Peterson stating that YouTube “has taken upon itself to actively interfere with a presidential election campaign.” People can still watch the interview on Twitter, which Kennedy linked to and thanked Twitter Owner Elon Musk in a tweet.
What do you think … Should social media platforms censor presidential candidates? My conversation with @JordanBPeterson was deleted by @YouTube. Luckily you can watch it here on @Twitter (thank you @elonmusk). #Kennedy24https://t.co/PJFKWH6zmd
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 18, 2023
Peterson and Kennedy talked about COVID-19 mandates during the interview.
“You mentioned at the beginning of our talk your concern in relationship to the use of fear,” Peterson said. “And we could say on the vaccine front that the vaccine mandates … the lockdown mandates, they were pushed forward with the use of fear.”
Former President Donald Trump used to link vaccines to autism, according to The New York Times.
“At that time anything that Trump said … the reaction of the Democratic Party is whatever he says, we gotta do the opposite … If you thought vaccines cause autism it meant you were a Republican and if you thought they definitely did not, and that’s been proven beyond any doubt, you were a Democrat,” Kennedy said. “And there was no in-between, there was no dialogue, there was no room for dissent or debate. It was a tribal issue.”
Peterson brought up the presidential candidate’s Instagram ban for sharing anti-vaccine views in February 2021. The platform eventually reinstated Kennedy’s account on June 4, citing the fact that he is a presidential candidate, according to The Washington Post.
“I’m interested to see what happens to you with YouTube,” Kennedy said during the interview.
“Well, you know they’ve left me alone,” Peterson responded. “YouTube has left me alone. It’s quite surprising. Because I’ve said things many times that in principle should’ve got me in trouble on YouTube. They haven’t even put any strikes against my channel … they’ve been completely hands-off with me.”
Peterson did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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