Comedian Dave Smith ripped NewsNation host Chris Cuomo over his previous remarks on Ivermectin Friday evening on a debate stage after Cuomo was heard attempting to backtrack on his comments.
Both Smith and Cuomo appeared on a debate stage hosted by entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David to discuss their previous stances on COVID-19 mandates along with the recent verdict of former President Donald Trump. During the discussion, Smith had called out Cuomo for his stance on Ivermectin, a drug that was used to help treat people who contracted COVID-19, during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
As CNN notoriously slammed Rogan in 2021 after he spoke about his use of Ivermectin after testing positive for the coronavirus, Smith highlighted the lack of apology from the network or Cuomo to Rogan after experts stated it was safe to use against the virus. (RELATED: Fauci’s Definition For Gain-Of-Function Research Contradicts The Agency He Once Headed, Testimony Reveals)
“By the way, no one ever at CNN during this time when they were all saying it’s horse dewormer — everyone was repeating [it]. No one ever said we’re talking about the veterinarian Ivermectin. We’re not talking about the Ivermectin that doctors prescribed. No one ever said that. But listen, you told me I should apologize. So what, do you think I should apologize? And then I’ll tell you what I think you should apologize,” Smith stated.
“Well I know what you think I should apologize for. Obviously, there was so much talk that they don’t want you to take Ivermectin. Ivermectin is the way to go. Take it, Joe Rogan got better from Ivermectin. And by the way, I don’t like what people did to Joe Rogan about Ivermectin —” Cuomo began.
“You did it!” Smith shouted as the crowd could be heard laughing.
“No, no,” Cuomo pushed back.
“Yes you did! Find the clips. Dude you shamed Joe Rogan. You said he’s taking horse dewormer, you and Don Lemon were chuckling at each other about it. I’ll go find the clip, I watched it,” Smith stated.
A clip between Cuomo and former CNN host Don Lemon was played for the audience, revealing how the two former network hosts laughed over the use of the drug as they labeled it as “a dewormer.”
“I was responding to a situation where we were told that this was what people were searching out to take and nobody knew what it was going to do. Look, I’m taking the drug right now obviously, I don’t think it’s all poison. I stopped calling it the horse drug when you — and you can not like it,” Cuomo stated.
“CNN’s chief medical officer who was Sanjay Gupta, said to me, ‘You shouldn’t just call it a horse dewormer. There’s a whole legitimate aspect of the drug. I wouldn’t use it for COVID-19, but it’s not just the veterinary grade.’ So I stopped calling it that and then it went away.”
Following the backlash Rogan received from the legacy media, the podcast host later ripped CNN on his show as he claimed the network altered a video he took of himself while he had COVID-19. The video, which was posted first to social media, ran on the network shortly after, but appeared to have a filter on Rogan making him look ill.
Additionally, Rogan called out CNN’s framing of the antiviral drug as horse medicine, with Cuomo and Lemon seen in the clip talking about how people should be either shamed or canceled for taking the drug.
