Elon Musk and Joe Rogan touched off a firestorm over the weekend as they pushed a prominent vaccine scientist to debate Democratic candidate and noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on Rogan's popular podcast.
Rogan offered Dr. Peter Hotez $100,000 to the charity of his choice if he agreed to debate Kennedy on Rogan's program after Hotez slammed a recent interview Kennedy had on Rogan's program as "awful" and "nonsense." Kennedy, who is making a bid for the 2024 Democratic nomination, repeated unfounded claims he has long made like vaccines cause autism, and he and Rogan also discussed what they viewed as the dangers of 5G technology and the power of the pharmaceutical industry.
Several other figures also offered large sums to encourage Hotez – a frequent guest on CNN and MSNBC during the pandemic who pushed controversial mask and vaccine mandates – to debate with Kennedy, the Democratic scion who has been praised by some corners of the right for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines.
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After Hotez said he would be happy to talk to Rogan, Rogan shot back it was a "non-answer" and that Hotez had agreed with a "dogs--t" Vice article that attacked his interview with Kennedy. Several other outlets along with Vice also attacked Spotify, the streaming giant that airs Rogan's show, for not labeling the interview misinformation.
Musk, the billionaire Twitter owner who often ventures into debates and discussions on the platform, chimed in that Hotez was "afraid of a public debate." Hotez called Musk's posture "monstrous," to which Musk responded that he was generally pro-vaccine but had concerns about the COVID shots.
"I am generally pro vaccine," he wrote. "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 excess vaccination against ‘Covid-19.’ I have that in quotes, because the RNA sequences changed so much that I called it the virus of Theseus. So many people I know had serious side effects from the vaccines, including myself. Failure to acknowledge that is a lie. As for the deaths you claim are due to Covid-19, why is the nation of Sweden still alive!? Just go on Rogan and do the debate."
Kennedy himself tweeted he wanted to have the debate as well. Eventually Mark Cuban got into the mix, slamming Rogan's challenge as "bulls--t" and willfully ignoring the lives saved by the pharmaceutical industry in spite of its issues.
As the story drew more attention over the weekend, Hotez eventually found himself face-to-face with people telling him to debate Kennedy.
On Sunday, independent journalist Alex Rosen filmed himself greeting Hotez outside his home and asking why he wouldn't debate. Hotez smiled but said Rosen was harassing him, and he said he would give the matter some thought.
"He just invited me, so we'll see," Hotez told him, adding, "Don't come to my house."
Hotez appeared on MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan's program Sunday to explain, however, why he wouldn't "debate" vaccines with Kennedy, saying in science it was more typical to write papers instead.
"I have a new book coming out that basically says 200,000 Americans needlessly perished, because they believed the anti-vaccine disinformation and refused to take a COVID vaccine during our Delta wave and BA.1 Omicron wave in 2021-22 after vaccines were widely available," he said. "So the point is anti-vaccine disinformation, it’s always done a lot of damage and harm, but now it’s a lethal force in the United States, and that’s why we have to have that discussion. And I offered to come and go on Joe Rogan again… I’ve been on a couple of times and have that discussion with it, but not to turn it into the Jerry Springer Show with having RFK Jr on."
Hotez added it was wrong of Kennedy, who is polling at 20 percent in some Democratic surveys, to call him a shill for the pharmaceutical industry.
Hotez has been heavily cited in the media over the course of the pandemic but has taken criticism for his aggressive posture toward COVID vaccines and masks for children, in spite of the extremely low rate of coronavirus mortality for those aged 0-17. His rhetoric about caution in reopening schools in light of the harm caused by prolonged school closings has also brought him criticism from conservatives.
