Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times and 1619 Project founder has voiced her opinion the world’s most popular podcast, and went so far as to equate the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to “open racism.”
According to Hannah-Jones, Rogan’s popularity triggers the question: “Why don’t millions of Americans mind open racism?”
“With respect, I don’t get this,” Hannah-Jones tweeted. “We need to understand why millions of Americans don’t mind the open racism? It’s not a mystery. Been reporting on it for years. So, what do we do with that?”
She has since deleted the tweet.
Beyond parody pic.twitter.com/2GTJRc3sMU
— Sarah Haider 🤖👾 (@SarahTheHaider) January 31, 2022
Hannah-Jones has piped up before about race issues in America, as is her wont.
In November of last year, Hannah-Jones said that “In this country, you can even kill white people and get away with it if those white people are fighting for black lives. This is the legacy of 1619,” following the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.
In this country, you can even kill white people and get away with it if those white people are fighting for Black lives. This is the legacy of 1619.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) November 19, 2021
Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times also jumped in with his two cents, saying that “the media might want to spend more time thinking about why so many people trust him instead of us.”
Joe Rogan is what he is. We in the media might want to spend more time thinking about why so many people trust him instead of us.
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) January 30, 2022
CNN’s Brian Stelter also had a meltdown but on his show “Reliable Sources,” where he complained that Rogan was working off the cuff, and that people who were quick to distrust CNN were quick to go with the podcaster who just “makes it up as he goes along.”
Stelter credited his team at CNN, who “work hard on verifying information on COVID-19.”
Brian Stelter says trusting Joe Rogan over “newsrooms like CNN” that "work hard on verifying information on COVID-19" is “a problem that’s much bigger than Spotify…” pic.twitter.com/bhu8oXm7RP
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 1, 2022
“And then you have talk show stars like Joe Rogan who just wing it, who make it up as they go along. And because speakers like Rogan are trusted by people that don’t trust real newsrooms, we have a tension, a problem that’s much bigger than Spotify, much bigger than any single platform, Kate,” Stelter told Bolduan on-air, adding in the rant: “But that’s — it is the heart of this right now.”
