Comedian and wildly popular podcaster Joe Rogan has received backlash online after comments he made about the merits of wearing a face mask in the fight against coronavirus during a recent podcast.
Rogan was interviewing fellow comedian Bill Burr when the topic of discussion turned, inevitably, to coronavirus.
Having touched on the response to COVID-19 in America, the pair discussed face masks, when Rogan questioned Burr's stance on face coverings.
“I don’t want to start this bulls**t,” Bill Burr said.
“I’m not going to sit here with no medical degree, listening to you with no medical degree, with an American flag behind you, smoking a cigar, acting like we know what’s up better than the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
“All I do is I watch the news once every two weeks. I’m like ‘Mask or no mask? Still mask? Alright, masks.’ That’s all I give a f**k about.”
Burr later says of face masks, "I just love how wearing a mask became like this f**king soft thing that you were doing — just being courteous," before Rogan responded "Yeah, it’s for b**ches”.
“Oh god, you’re so tough, with your f**king open nose and throat,” Burr humorously replied.
Though Burr's roasting of Joe Rogan on the issue seemed to be clearly light-hearted, some online have taken a more stark view of Rogan's comments. Here are some responses from people on Twitter.
One commenter wrote on Twitter, "Lads, wean yourself off the Joe Rogan podcast. In fact, wean yourself off the whole "wealthy American gives thoughts on the world" complex. That's my life advice to you today. Pick up a book. A paper one. Take time to digest and inform yourself over days and weeks, not 90mins".
However, others weren't convinced that canceling Rogan was a realistic prospect.