ABC chairman Kim Williams has launched an extraordinary attack on US podcaster Joe Rogan, claiming the globally successful podcast host is ‘preying on people’s vulnerability’.
Mr Williams made the comments during a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday.
ABC reporter Jane Norman asked him how the national broadcaster could reach an audience similar to Rogan’s.
“I am not a consumer or enthusiast of Mr. Rogan and his work,” Mr. Williams said.
‘I think people like Rogan take advantage of people’s vulnerabilities. They prey on fear. They prey on fear.
“They prey on all the elements that contribute to insecurity in society, and they see fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as a normal part of the social story.”
He even went so far as to say he found Rogan’s influence in the US “very abhorrent.”
“I am also absolutely appalled that this can be a source of public entertainment when in reality the public is being treated as plunder for purposes that are actually very evil.”
ABC chairman Kim Williams has launched an extraordinary attack on Joe Rogan, claiming the globally successful podcast host ‘preys on people’s vulnerability’
The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast on Spotify with 14.5 million followers.
Rogan signed a $100 million deal with the streaming giant in 2020.
Williams’ comments come after Rogan told his audience he would not move to Australia because the country had put people in “concentration camps” for “colds” during Covid lockdowns.
During the Covid pandemic, Australia has quarantined people arriving in the country for weeks before allowing them to enter the community.
Most were housed in hotels, but some were also housed in temporary isolation camps.
Australia’s specialist national quarantine facility, Howard Springs on the outskirts of Darwin, housed around 64,000 people for a mandatory two-week isolation period.
there is more to come