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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took to Twitter Wednesday night to send a message of solidarity to American comedian Joe Rogan, who has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks over a boycott against Spotify organized by left-wing artists calling for censorship of his famous podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
In his tweet, Bolsonaro said he has no interest in the position Rogan may have regarding him, but he defends his freedom of expression and asks him to “hold his ground.”
“I´m not sure what Joe Rogan thinks about me or about my government”, the president wrote. “If freedom of speech means anything, it means that people should be free to say what they think, no matter if they agree or disagree with us. Stand your ground! Hugs from Brazil.”
Bolsonaro sides with Rogan in controversy
The boycott against Rogan’s show began after the host decided to interview specialists Peter McCullough, a cardiologist and former deputy director of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, and Robert Malone, a renowned virologist who contributed to the creation of messenger RNA vaccines, to contrast opinions on COVID-19 vaccines.
The Joe Rogan Experience had previously interviewed physician and CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta for knowing his opinion on COVID-19 treatments after the leftist network accused Rogan of “taking horse dewormer” after being prescribed Ivermectin to treat the virus.
Artists and media accuse Rogan of “spreading disinformation” regarding COVID after hosting some episodes with McCullough and Malone. Even the White House, through its press secretary, Jen Psaki, asked Spotify to take “action” to censor the comedian.
