Comedian Dave Smith slammed NewsNation host Chris Cuomo on stage at Friday night’s debate after the former vice president tried to walk back previous comments he made about ivermectin.
Smith and Cuomo appeared on a panel hosted by entrepreneur Patrick Bett David to discuss their previous positions on COVID-19 mandates and former President Donald Trump’s recent rulings. During the debate, Smith appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and criticized Cuomo’s stance on ivermectin, a drug used to treat people with COVID-19.
In 2021, CNN famously slammed Rogan for speaking out about his use of ivermectin after testing positive for coronavirus, but Smith highlighted that neither CNN nor Governor Cuomo offered Rogan an apology even after experts said the use of ivermectin against the virus was safe. (RELATED: Testimony reveals Fauci’s definition of gain-of-function research is inconsistent with the institution he once led)
“By the way, the other day on CNN, everyone was saying it was a horse dewormer. [it]”Nobody’s saying we’re talking about vet ivermectin. We’re not talking about doctor prescribed ivermectin. Nobody’s saying that. But listen, you said I owe you an apology. So what, you think I owe you an apology? And then I’ll tell you what I think you owe you an apology for,” Smith said.
“You all know what I think I should apologize for. Obviously there’s been too much talk about not wanting people to take ivermectin. Ivermectin is the right choice. Take it. Joe Rogan got better on ivermectin. By the way, I don’t like what people did to Joe Rogan about ivermectin,” Cuomo began.
“You did it!” Smith shouted, to the sound of laughter from the crowd.
“No, no,” Cuomo countered.
“Yeah you found it! Find the clip. You embarrassed Joe Rogan. You said he was taking horse wormers and you and Don Lemon were laughing at each other about it. Go find the clip, I saw it too,” Smith said.
Footage of an exchange between Governor Cuomo and former CNN host Don Lemon was played to the audience, showing the two former CNN hosts calling the drug a “deworming drug” and laughing at its use.
“I was responding to a situation where this is what people are asking for and nobody knows what effect it’s going to have. You see, I’m taking this medicine now and I don’t think it’s completely poisonous. I’ve stopped calling it horse medicine. And you’re not going to like it,” Cuomo said.
“Sanjay Gupta, who was CNN’s chief medical officer, said to me, ‘Don’t just call it horse dewormer. There are legitimate aspects to this drug. We’re not using it for COVID-19, but it’s not just veterinary grade.’ So I stopped calling it that, and the term just disappeared.”
Following the backlash Rogan received from traditional media, the podcast host later slammed CNN on his show, claiming that the network had doctored a video of him that he filmed while he was infected with COVID-19. The video, which was first posted to social media and then aired on CNN shortly thereafter, appeared to have been filtered to make Rogan look sick.
Rogan also criticized CNN for reporting the antiviral drug as horse medicine, and a video showed Cuomo and Lemon saying people who have taken the drug should be shamed or stop getting vaccinated.
