Joe Rogan, the mixed martial arts commentator and podcast host, posted a video to his Instagram account today railing against vaccine mandates and passports and using imagery putting them on par with the Holocaust and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
The video, credited to a man named Samuel Rivera, features ominous narration excerpted from a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “As soon as you give politicians power, any kind of power that didn’t exist previously, if they can figure out a way to force you into carrying something that lets you enter businesses or lets you do this or lets businesses open, historically, they are not gonna give that power up,” says Rogan, backed by sinister music. “They find new reasons to use it. We have to protect those freedoms at all cost, whether you agree with people’s choices or not, because it is the foundation that this country was founded on: freedom.”
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As Rogan monologues, imagery is displayed: the New York City skyline, an empty train station, a prisoner being dragged down a hallway, Jesus Christ carrying the cross, a vaccination record card, a sign saying a business is temporarily closed, an empty supermarket, a “Stay home/Stop the spread” sign, “Sorry we’re closed” signs, a crowd gathered around a store where a man is marking a Star of David on a Jewish business, what appears to be Nazis chasing a Jewish man, a magician levitating a sleeping woman, a nuclear power plant, a subway, a man pounding a podium, Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator saying “I’ll be back,” a soldier, a vault closing, the Statue of Liberty, lions hunting prey, a soldier loading a gun, an eye opening, two men shaking hands, a person waving a bullhorn, the U.S. Constitution, a bald eagle, a U.S. flag, and U.S. soldiers hopping out of boats on D-Day.
The video continues on for a minute after this, using, among other things, imagery of Hitler and Black American citizens being attacked by police as the music reaches a feverish crescendo and Rogan proclaims that anything inhibiting freedom is un-American.
Rogan, who has previously provided his audience to people claiming without evidence that ivermectin—typically used to deworm pets and farm animals—is the key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, recently contracted the disease and credited ivermectin with helping him overcome it. Next week he’ll be performing at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which requires attendees to be vaccinated; Rogan has promised to give a refund to anyone who bought a ticket but isn’t vaccinated.
“If someone has an ideological or physiological reason for not getting vaccinated, I don’t want to force them to get vaccinated to see a fucking stupid comedy show,” he said, per The Wrap.
