Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Howard Stern's hypocrisy

I agree with Tucker Carlson. There. I said it.

You may never see those words from me again (and frankly, I hope you don’t). But I do agree with Carlson that Howard Stern is a coward — just not for the reasons he says he is.

Carlson says it’s because Stern is afraid of catching COVID, so he condemns others who aren’t vaccinated as a result. Well, I don’t want to catch COVID, either. I got vaccinated for the same reason I got vaccinated against polio. My mom had it. I’ve seen what it can do to people, and she was the most courageous person I’ve ever known. So, no, Carlson is dead wrong: Sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor.

But he’s right that Stern is a coward.

The guy was willing to call out Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback, for refusing to get vaccinated and then testing positive for COVID: “If I ran the NFL ... If there was decency in this world, I would throw the guy out of the football league so fast [for] what he did to his fellow teammates.”

He changed his tune, however, when it came to podcaster Joe Rogan. Rogan has railed against vaccines and, interestingly enough, is the guy who persuaded Rodgers to forgo the vaccine and take an unproven so-called “remedy” called ivermectin instead. So Rogan is responsible for contributing to the situation for which Stern says Rodgers should be fired.

Rogan has influence beyond Aaron Rodgers, though. One survey found that his listeners were 18 percent less likely than others to say they intended to get vaccinated. And the streaming service Spotify recently paid him $100 million to carry his podcast. (When Neil Young threatened to pull his music from Spotify, the company told him to go right ahead; Young might have had some clout back in the 1960s or’70s, but it’s Rogan’s world now, and money talks.)

But does Stern want Rogan canceled? Hell no.

Trash talk for dollars

It’s all about money for him, too: “I’m for any performer who can get any money and get paid,” he said. “I’m happy for any young man or woman who can get paid in show business because so many people do not get paid. So those that can, God bless. It ain’t easy. It’s not an easy road. And attracting an audience is not easy.”

That’s true, but becoming arguably the best quarterback in the National Football League is, I’d wager, even harder than making money spewing opinions in front of a microphone, and Stern isn’t cutting Rodgers any slack.

Oh, but there’s a difference: Rodgers knowingly put his teammates at risk of catching COVID by not getting vaccinated; Rogan didn’t do that. He’s not vaccinated, either. So is the health of NFL players more important in Stern’s mind than the health of the people Rogan might infect if he gets the virus?

Stern insists it’s all about not wanting to censor Rogan. But does Rogan have more right to free speech than Rodgers does? He certainly has a bigger audience: People listen to him for his opinions, but they watch Rodgers because he can throw a football. Big difference. Rodgers was cagey about being unvaccinated, while Rogan shouts it to the world and encourages others (like Rodgers) to shun the shot. Which is more damaging? Who’s likely to get more people infected?

Does this make Stern a coward?

I think it does. I think the calls for Rogan to get canceled hit a little too close to home for Howard. It’s all fine and good to call for Rodgers to lose his meal ticket, but heaven forbid that should happen to another controversial on-air (or online) “personality” — someone very much like him. Trash talk sells, and he knows it. Stern practically invented it when it comes to radio, and Rogan’s doing the same thing, just from a different, albeit warped, perspective.

So, yes, Tucker Carlson is right: Howard Stern is a coward. And a hypocrite to boot. Far more people are likely to get COVID as a result of Rogan’s actions (Rodgers included) than from anything Rodgers has done. But who cares as long as it gets ratings?

It’s all about money, right?

Damn straight it is.