Jon Stewart comes to defense of Rogan, say the 'overreaction' to podcaster's views a 'mistake'

Comedian Jon Stewart has come to the defense of Joe Rogan during a recent episode of his podcast, "The Problem With Jon Stewart." 

Rogan has faced a wave of backlash to his podcast recently, as a number of musicians ask Spotify to pull the immensely popular show from the platform, or lose their musical catalogues, due to what they believe is the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Stewart, considered a liberal willing to take shot at his own tribe, argued on his podcast that aired Thursday that he does not believe Rogan is an ideologue, as evidenced by his ability and willingness to frequently pivot positions or change opinions when presented with new information.

"Don't leave, don't abandon, don't censor, engage. I'm not saying it’s it’s always going to work out fruitfully, but I am always of the mindset that engagement, and especially with someone like a Joe Rogan who is not, in my mind, an ideologue in any way," Stewart told his listeners, citing an instance in which Rogan quickly reevaluated his opinion on a vaccine-related matter during a recent taping.

"To me, that says that’s a person that you can engage with," he continued. "My point is, we all exist in this world and on this planet, and there’s no question that there is egregious misinformation that’s purposeful and hateful and all those other things. And that being moderated is a credit to the platforms that run them. But this overreaction to Rogan, I think is a mistake. I really do."