Joe Rogan blasts Anthony Fauci for public mistrust in science, says people are expected to believe him when he's '100 percent wrong'

Joe Rogan slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci on a recent episode of his hugely popular podcast, blaming the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the public's mistrust in science and vaccine skepticism.

Rogan discussed the current conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic with Lex Fridman, an "AI researcher working on autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction, and machine learning at MIT."

"There's not enough authentic, strong leadership," Fridman stated. "We have somebody like Fauci, who basically nobody really trusts any more, as being the chief communicator of how we proceed forward. That's a huge problem."

Rogan noted, "You don't just have the fact that the people don't trust him, but you have the mainstream media ignoring all the things he's done to lead the people not to trust him."

Rogan stressed Fauci's shifting guidance on face masks, in which he initially said, "There's no reason to be walking around with a mask" in the spring of 2020. In January 2020, Fauci said, "The driver of outbreaks is always a symptomatic person." However, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January 2021 suggests that asymptomatic infections account for more than half of all COVID-19 cases. Fauci also walked back the possibility of a lab-leak theory.

Rogan and Fridman claimed that Fauci wasn't transparent about gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute, which helped intensify the lab-leak theory. Rogan highlighted that Fauci's agency provided grants for bat coronavirus research to EcoHealth Alliance.

Fridman told the audience not to let "shady, greedy a**holes at the very top that are communicating science as part of our government be somehow connected to the essence of science."

"There's also a problem with people like him where they make these statements that you're led to believe they have an understanding of the situation ... but then it turns out they're 100% wrong. But then they come up with a new statement and you're supposed to believe that," Rogan said. "When they don't know, they never say 'We don't know.' They don't say, 'This is very confusing and we're trying to figure it out as we go along.'"

Rogan mocked the chutzpah of Fauci, who serves as President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, by citing a quote that the notable immunologist said in June.

"A lot of what you're seeing as attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science, because all of the things that I have spoken about, consistently from the very beginning, have been fundamentally based on science," Fauci told NBC News host Chuck Todd.

Fridman believes that top health administrators let "power get to them," and "ego is the thing that destroys all awesome things."

Fridman said that he believes in the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines, which decreases the risk of death from COVID-19.

"I think it's a wise choice to take the vaccine if you're at all concerned about ending up in the hospital," Fridman said.

During "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, the comedian acknowledged that his parents got vaccinated.

Rogan explained that he hoped that there would be a "push for health, there'd be a push for people to change their diet, start a rigorous exercise routine."

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 78% of people hospitalized for COVID-19 were overweight.

Rogan pointed out that "people don't trust pharmaceutical companies and haven't for a long time." Rogan and Fridman noted that the pharmaceutical companies are making enormous profits from the COVID-19 vaccines, which could mean that the "incentives are not well aligned."

Fridman argued that the United States should fully reopen and allow unvaccinated Americans to accept the risks of their decisions. Fridman also said that he is against any kind of vaccine passport.

"I don't trust the government enough to allow any kind of control of your ability to travel and your whereabouts," Rogan said of vaccine passports.

Earlier this month, Rogan railed against vaccine passports, warning they take America "one step closer" to a dictatorship. Rogan's comments drew the ire of the outrage mob, who attempted to cancel the massively successful podcast host.