Sanjay Gupta, CNN's top medical analyst, told Joe Rogan the network should not have referred to medication he took to combat a coronavirus infection as "horse dewormer" during its coverage of the popular podcaster's bout with the disease.
"It's a lie on a news network ... that's a lie that they're conscious of. It's not a mistake," Rogan said to Gupta as the longtime medical analyst appeared on his show this week. "They're unfavorably framing it as veterinary medicine."
The controversial podcaster, who has drawn criticism for past statements about coronavirus immunity and vaccines, pressed Gupta about CNN's coverage.
"Do you think that's a problem that your news network lies," Rogan asked. "Dude, they lied and said I was taking horse dewormer."
"Yeah, yeah yeah, they shouldn't have said it was horse" dewormer, Gupta responded. "If you got a human pill, because there were people who were taking it, the veterinary medication, and you're not obviously because you got it from a doctor, so it shouldn't be called that."
Last month, Rogan announced he had tested positive for the virus and that after a few days of feeling sick he was on the mend. He said he was taking Z-Pak, prednisolone and ivermectin, which has been approved for use in humans for some conditions but is not recommended for the treatment of COVID-19.
A month earlier, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had warned Americans against taking ivermectin, a drug sometimes used to treat parasitic worm infections in humans and livestock, something Gupta mention when speaking to Rogan this week.
"It was snarky, I'll admit it," Gupta said in reference to a tweet the FDA sent telling Americans, "You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it."
CNN was one of many media outlets last month that covered Rogan's announcement.
Rogan criticized CNN during a recent episode of his show for its coverage of his coronavirus case and treatment, asking a guest at one point if needs to sue the network.
“Bro, do I have to sue CNN?” Rogan said last month. “They’re making shit up. They keep saying I’m taking horse dewormer. I literally got it from a doctor. It’s an American company. They won the Nobel Prize in 2015 for use in human beings and CNN is saying I’m taking horse dewormer. They must know that’s a lie.”