CNN won't apologize to Joe Rogan after smear campaign: 'The only thing we did was bruise his ego'

CNN fired back at famous podcaster Joe Rogan on Thursday and said the only thing the network did wrong was "bruise the ego of a popular podcaster" after they claimed he was taking "horse dewormer" to treat COVID.

The network's comments come in response to Rogan slamming them for lying after CNN undertook a smear campaign, labelling the podcaster a "conspiracy theorist" for saying that Ivermectin helped him recover from COVID.

"The heart of this debate has been purposely confused and ultimately lost," CNN told the Washington Post's Erik Wemple. "It's never been about livestock versus human dosage of Ivermectin. The issue is that a powerful voice in the media, who by example and through his platform, sowed doubt in the proven and approved science of vaccines while promoting the use of an unproven treatment for covid-19 — a drug developed to ward off parasites in farm animals."

"The only thing CNN did wrong here was bruise the ego of a popular podcaster who pushed dangerous conspiracy theories and risked the lives of millions of people in doing so," the network added.

Wemple responded to the statement and said that it "sounds more like the work of an advocacy group than a journalism outfit." And he wasn't the only one to think so.

Joe Rogan interviewed CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta during a recent podcast and called out the network for lying about him taking "horse dewormer" instead of Ivermectin following his COVID-19 diagnosis last month.

"Does it bother you that the network you work for out and out lied, just outright lied about me taking horse dewormer?" Rogan grilled Gupta.

"They shouldn't have said that," Gupta admitted.

"Why did they do that?" Rogan asked.

"I don't know," Gupta responded.

"You didn't ask? You're the medical guy over there!" Rogan exclaimed.

"I didn't ask," Gupta said. "I should've asked before coming on this podcast."