Podcast host Joe Rogan ripped CNN for downplaying the two teenagers who allegedly hurled explosive devices as if they were victims enjoying nice weather in New York City.
Going after the network on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he called CNN’s attempt to “soften” Saturday’s incident a “crazy way to frame two guys who wanted to do a terror attack.”
The “two guys” are Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, the Pennsylvanians charged with committing an act of terrorism for hurling explosive devices that didn’t detonate near Gracie Mansion, the residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Authorities described the attack as inspired by ISIS.
The podcast host added, “Are you trying to downplay the possibility of — first of all, now in New York, because you have a guy who’s an avowed whatever he is, democratic socialist, some say communist, but also Muslim. And then you have these Islamists who are doing a terrorist attack. So are you trying to soften that? It seems like you’re trying to soften it.”
Mr. Rogan’s target, CNN, reported in a since-deleted social media post, “Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could have been a normal day, enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather, but in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home. Here’s what we know so far.”
Upon removing the post, CNN said it “failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted.”
Its apology post has garnered over 8 million views in 48 hours, along with 20,000 comments, many of which slam the outlet for inaccurate reporting.
Mr. Rogan mocked CNN’s portrayal of the two teens as “just regular fellas” enjoying “abnormally warm weather.”
“Could have been a normal day if they weren’t going there to commit terrorism,” he added.
“You see their headline, you’re like, ’What? What kind of story are you painting here?’ Like this is such a crazy way to frame a guy showed up with bombs and was hurling them at people,” he said. “It sounded like it was just a regular day. Just regular day for this fella. And then things just went a little sideways somewhere along the way.”
Podcaster Konstantin Kisin, a guest on the show, responded to CNN’s clarifying post, saying the outlet’s original framing was not an accident
“It didn’t fail to reflect the gravity of the situation. It failed to accurately communicate who was responsible, who the intended victims were and where the blame for the attempted terrorist attack lay,” he said. “In other words, you didn’t accidentally downplay the seriousness of it; you deliberately misrepresented what happened to conceal the truth from the public.”
