Disgraced former CNN pundit Jeffrey Toobin clashed with Valuetainment podcaster Patrick Bet-David June 21 during a debate about coronavirus vaccine mandates.
Toobin appeared on the “PBD Podcast” with Valuetainment’s Patrick Bet-David to speak about his new book. Bet-David and his co-hosts began discussing vaccine mandates with Toobin an hour and a half into the podcast.
VACCINATION BY FORCE.@JeffreyToobin explains why he was in favor of vaccination by force. @patrickbetdavid pushes back.
“I thought it was exactly the right thing to do… when your opinion put other people at physical risk as vaccine denial did, that crossed the line.” pic.twitter.com/o59DEcUoRt
— PBD Podcast (@PBDsPodcast) June 26, 2023
“You tried to force down the vaccine on me, and I didn’t like that. I don’t like what you did there as well. So when you say, ‘I don’t like what Fox did,’ there are tens of millions who say ‘I can’t stand what the mainstream media did to judge me just because I wasn’t ready to take the vaccine,'” Bet-David said. “You made me feel like a moron because I’m not willing to take it. That part is a little bit [of a] double standard,” he added. (RELATED: ‘I’d Rather Not Go Into The Grisly Details’: Toobin Shies Away From Question About Masturbating On Live Meeting)
“I’m sorry. I’m a complete hardliner on this,” Toobin responded. “At CNN and at Fox you were not allowed in the building unless you were vaccinated.”
“You think that’s the right thing to do?” Bet-David shot back.
“I thought it was exactly the right thing to do,” Toobin said.
“Tell me why.” Bet-David insisted.
“It’s a communicable disease that could, that you could reduce your risk to yourself and to the people around you, to a scientific certainty, and that was a rule that was excellent, and I was glad CNN had that rule. I’m sure the people at Fox were glad they had that rule. Again, this is not, you’re allowed to have opinions about anything you want. But at some point, when your opinions put other people at physical risk, as vaccine denial did, that crossed a line for me,” Toobin emphasized.
“You know how ridiculous that is what you just said? For you to say that, I can hear someone saying that in Iran,” Bet-David said. He pointed out Toobin’s rhetoric goes against the American ideal of freedom.
“You’re not free to put other people in danger. It wasn’t me who said this. It was the leadership of these companies,” Toobin said.
Bet-David claimed some patients suffered adverse side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines and were tested much less than other vaccines. He and Toobin disagreed about the lack of safety trials for the vaccines being a reason not to impose mandates.
The podcaster followed up by speaking about the military officers who were fired for refusing to take the vaccine.
“Nobody forced them to leave their jobs. No, their choice was to take the vaccine,” Toobin said. He called it a “good thing” that people in the military were forced to take the vaccine.
At the beginning of the episode, Bet-David allowed Toobin to address his infamous masturbation incident during an October 2020 Zoom call with co-workers at The New Yorker.
“I did something wrong, period. And I am more sorry than I can say to everyone involved,” Toobin said. “I’ve been working to restore my reputation since then. As I say, I don’t make excuses. I only make apologies,” he added. “I like to think it’s not the only thing on my permanent record.”
He was fired by The New Yorker in November 2020 shortly after the masturbation incident. Toobin returned to CNN in June 2021, eight months after the masturbation scandal. Toobin announced in August 2022 he was leaving the network after 20 years on air.