CNN commentator torches own network over 'horses**t' coverage of Joe Rogan, ivermectin

CNN contributor Mary Katharine Ham torched her own employer Friday for its "dishonest" reporting on Joe Rogan and ivermectin.

What is the background?

When Rogan announced last month that he had tested positive for COVID-19 — and was subsequently prescribed ivermectin — CNN dishonestly claimed that Rogan was taking "horse dewormer."

Rogan, of course, was not ingesting the form of ivermectin made for animals, but the form of ivermectin produced for human ingestion. Although the media had reduced ivermectin to a mere "horse dewormer," ivermectin was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for its "immeasurable" benefits to humans.

Rogan made headlines this week after interviewing CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. During the interview, Rogan forced Gupta to admit that CNN "shouldn't have said that," referring to the dishonest framing that claimed Rogan ingested a "horse dewormer."

What did Ham say?

Writing on social media, Ham affirmed Rogan's criticisms, explaining CNN decided to "dunk" on Rogan instead of providing viewers with accurate coverage about Rogan's bout with COVID-19.

"Rogan is right that it's dishonest to say he took horse dewormer when he did not. It was irresistible to dunk on him for a lot of people, so they went with that instead of sticking to 'hey, this anti-parasitic isn't recommended for COVID treatment,' which would've been credible," Ham said.

In a follow up, Ham ratcheted up her criticism, describing CNN's "horse dewormer" framing as "horses**t."

"Agreed, I'm not looking to explicate the entire Ivermectin fight in one tweet. That was shorthand for a pronouncement that would have been more suitable than he's taking horse dewormer,' which is just straight, well, horses**t. I'm happy for folks to take it safely & half expect," she said.

Anything else?

Gupta seemingly backtracked on his admission during an interview with CNN host Don Lemon on Thursday.

During that interview, Lemon doubled down on CNN's lie, saying, "It is not a lie to say that [Ivermectin] is used as a horse dewormer. I think that's important. And it is not approved for COVID." Gupta responded, "Correct, that is correct and it is not approved for COVID."

In fact, a range of CNN hosts and personalities advanced the lie that Rogan took medication meant for animals. They did not simply note, as Lemon claimed, that ivermectin "is used as a horse dewormer." Honest reporting would have differentiated between what Rogan took — not animal medication — and the version of ivermectin made for animals.

Rogan has floated suing CNN for "making s**t up."

Interestingly, Gupta later published an essay explaining why he appeared on Rogan's podcast. Gupta said he did so to convince Rogan to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Rogan, however, has natural immunity against COVID-19 because of his infection this summer.