Sanjay Gupta Admits CNN Inaccurately Framed Ivermectin as Solely Veterinary Medication: ‘They Shouldn’t Have Said That’

Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN

CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta admitted CNN should not have framed Ivermectin as solely a veterinary drug after being confronted by Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan Experience. 

The Joe Rogan Experience posted a podcast with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta on October 13, where Gupta admitted CNN should not have presented Ivermectin strictly as veterinary pharmaceutical.

“Does it bother you that the news network you work for out and out lied? Just outright lied about me taking horse dewormer?” Rogan asked Gupta. 

“They shouldn’t have said that,” Gupta responded.

“You didn’t ask? You’re the medical guy over there,” Rogan followed up.

“I didn’t ask, I should have asked before coming on your podcast,” Gupta snarkily responded. 

“Dude, they lied and said I was taking horse dewormer,” Rogan said earlier in the interview. “First of all, it was prescribed to me by a doctor along with a bunch of other medications.”

“They shouldn’t have said it was a horse – if you got a human pill because there were people who were taking it – the veterinary medication, and you’re not obviously, you got it from a doctor, so it shouldn’t be called that,” Gupta admitted. “Ivermectin can be a very effective medication for parasitic disease, and as you say, it’s probably – you know – I think, what? A quarter billion people have taken it around the world; I get that.”

A health worker shows a box containing a bottle of Ivermectin, a medicine authorized by the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA) to treat patients with mild, asymptomatic or suspicious COVID-19, as part of a study of the Center for Paediatric Infectious Diseases Studies, in Cali, Colombia, on July 21, 2020. (Photo by LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images)

Rogan went on to play a clip of CNN announcing his diagnosis of COVID where the chyron of the video reads, “Joe Rogan Says He Has COVID, Taking Livestock Drug Despite Warnings.” 

Rogan called the reporting “defamatory.”

“I’m not a lawyer. I’m not a lawyer. Here’s the thing: You can have nuanced discussions about this,” Gupta replied. 

“No, you can’t. You can’t have nuanced discussions about lying about someone taking horse dewormer,” Rogan laughed. 

Last month Joe Rogan was diagnosed with coronavirus and announced his diagnosis and treatment plan on Instagram.

“So, we immediately threw the kitchen sink at it,” Rogan says in the video. “All kinds of meds: monoclonal antibodies, Ivermectin, Z-Pack, Prednisone, everything. I also got a NAD drip and a vitamin drip. I did that three days in a row.”

Rogan said he “had a bad day” but got progressively better as days went on. CNN was critical of Rogan’s Ivermectin use.

“But when you have a horse deworming medication that’s discouraged by the government, that actually causes some people in this crazed environment that we’re in to actually want to try it: that’s the upside-down world we are in with figures like Joe Rogan,” said CNN host Brian Stelter.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.