Joe Rogan defends CNN's Sanjay Gupta after conservatives cheer their debate over ivermectin

Joe Rogan defended CNN's Sanjay Gupta after video clips of their debate over COVID-19 went viral.

The podcast host confronted the network's chief medical correspondent over what he called "lies" about him taking the anti-parasitic medicine ivermectin to treat his COVID-19, and clips of the encounter circulated widely online -- especially on conservative websites -- but Rogan said many of those condensed videos were misleading.

"If you've only seen clips online you would think that @drsanjaygupta and I had a tense and uncomfortable encounter when we sat down for 3 hours," Rogan said on his Instagram account. "The reality is that disagreement was a very small part of what was overall a very enjoyable conversation. Sanjay is a really nice person and I like him a lot. After our time together I consider him a friend."

"People on network TV don't have anything remotely similar to the kind of freedom I enjoy doing the podcast," Rogan added. "For him to dive into my world and have an open form conversation with no restrictions took real courage, and I appreciate it very much."