That’s disgusting: Meesha Shafi calls out Joe Rogan’s 'misogynistic' behaviour

Popular US podcaster Joe Rogan, who’s been all over international media lately for spreading Covid-19 misinformation and using racial slurs, is now being highlighted for his problematic behaviour by Pakistanis too. Singer Meesha Shafi, who’s quick to raise her voice against misogyny, re-tweeted a podcast of Rogan yelling at a primatologist, who attempted to quash a misinformation one of his guests spout on his show.

When a Floridian primatologist who introduced herself as only Allison, politely argued that “there’s no such thing as a Bondo ape,” Rogan immediately cut her off and called her an “idiot”. Snubbing her PhD, he asked her when she graduated and told her to “go online and look it up.” To her credit, the primatologist persisted in an attempt to correct Rogan while he carried on with his childish derision. But she wasn’t allowed to finish a single sentence given he repeatedly interjected, screaming at the top of his lungs calling her “stupid”. He also suggested that she was “behind the times,” and asked her to check the National Geographic and CNN.

Sharing a thread by a Twitter user, Raf Bardigang Cadet, Meesha shrugged at Rogan’s behaviour. “That’s disgusting,” she wrote. The user had written, “Your free-thinking hero Joe Rogan and his misogynistic tirade against an expert caller who calmly tried to correct a fake story he fell victim to. Listen to the very end and peer inside the soul of a small-minded, insecure, Napoleonic man, who rose to fame because an entire system was rigged for his utter mediocrity. [He] couldn't let a woman, who was more educated than him, finish one sentence.”

Rogan is also facing backlash for spreading Covid-19 misinformation in his program hosted on Spotify after singer-songwriters Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their content from the streaming platform, reported Reuters. The incidents prompted Spotify to add a "content advisory" to any episode featuring discussion of Covid-19.

The show host also issued an apology for the second time in a week on Saturday, this time for using racial slurs after a montage video surfaced showing him repeatedly saying the N-word. However, Rumble, a Trump-affiliated, YouTube-style website, which is popular among US conservatives, has now offered Rogan $100 million over four years for all his shows.

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