National Post

Podcaster criticizes Canadian lockdown

- JOE ROGAN

Joe Rogan has taken aim at lockdown measures implemente­d across Canada to try to curb the spread of COVID-19.

In an April 28 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, which is almost three hours long, the American podcast host and comedian said he didn’t understand why Canadian officials think lockdown measures are a “solution.”

“Canada’s f—-d right,” said Rogan. “They’re so lockeddown and I don’t understand why they think that’s good.

“Hey guys, take your vitamin D, sleep, drink water,” Rogan said.

The podcast host also compared the enforcemen­t of provincial lockdown measures to the Gestapo, the political police of Nazi Germany, who played a critical role in the roundup of Jewish Europeans for deportatio­n to concentrat­ion camps and killing centres.

“You can’t do Canada,” he said. “You can’t do what you’re doing, where you have f—–g Gestapo pulling people over for your papers, ‘Why are you out? Why are you out of your house? There’s a cold floating around’.”

In April, Ontario Premier Doug Ford gave police the power to stop people on the street or in vehicles and ask why they were out during the province’s stay-at-home order. But within 24 hours of the order, many police forces in the province said they did not intend to randomly stop residents.

The premier later revised the measure so that police can only stop residents if they have a reason to suspect they’re participat­ing in a social gathering. Ford also issued an apology.

Rogan’s guest, Canadian chef and podcast host Matty Matheson, also said that “there’s a lot of overreacti­on” and called Ford “a piece of s-–t.”

Ontario is under a stayat-home order until May 19, which requires residents to remain at home except for essential purposes.

The province reported 3,424 new cases Thursday and 26 more deaths linked to the virus. While that’s an increase from 2,941 reported Wednesday, Ontario’s seven-day average dropped to 3,369 from a record-high 4,348 on April 19.

Last month, Rogan came under fire from top White House officials after he suggested that young Americans did not need to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rogan later walked back his comments on an April 29 episode of his podcast, saying he was a “f—–g moron” and not a doctor.

The podcast host also admitted that it “makes sense” for young, healthy people to get vaccinated in the interests of public health.

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Joe Rogan

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