Joe Rogan has ripped in Jacinda Ardern for moving her press conference to avoid being heckled by a Covid-19 denier.
The New Zealand Prime Minister was confronted with two people, one of whom pretended to be a journalist, who started spouting incorrect information about the coronavirus.
Ardern was in Northland earlier this week and while she was speaking about vaccination rates in the region, man yelled 'why is the vaccine not working in Israel? And you are still pushing it'.
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When she politely told him he was being rude by interrupting her, he replied: "It's rude to lie to the public of New Zealand."
The Prime Minister then stopped the press conference outside and moved it indoors and required only media members with proper accreditation.
"For our members of the gallery here, we might move to an inside venue. Unfortunately, we have someone who is disrupting your press conference. So, we might reconvene," she said.
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The New Zealand Herald has named the man claiming to be a journalist as American Shane Chafin, who reportedly runs a 'facts and evidence based platform...covering the stories that many mainstream media outlets will not'.
He reportedly continued making unsubstantiated comments about Covid-19 and the vaccine as the media moved inside and Chafin's cameraman yelled everyone was a part of the 'fake news media'.
While it was a perfectly reasonable response for Ms Ardern to change the location of the press conference, she's copped a serve from Joe Rogan.
The podcaster found it strange that the New Zealand Prime Minister wouldn't engage with Ms Chafin, despite him not being an accredited journalist.
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"If she even gets asked questions at press conferences, if people yell out questions she goes: 'We're going to shut this down, we're going to shut this down if you keep yelling out'," Rogan said.
"She just leaves, she's like 'accredited press only'. She took the f*****g press conference indoors because they were yelling out about the vaccine programme in Israel."
Rogan apparently tried to do a Kiwi accent multiple times in his sledge and accused Ms Ardern of trying to seize too much power.
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"They have ultimate power now - they have the power to shut down businesses, keep people in their homes. It's not as simple as just protecting people, it's also, they have power," Rogan said.
"When they have power, they f*****g like it, man. Those are the kind of people who run for governor and mayor in the first place, they enjoy telling people what to do. They like being the king."
Rogan has repeatedly criticised the lockdown measures seen in Australia and clearly his disdain now extends to New Zealand's response to the pandemic.
Funnily enough, not only did the small country avoid mass Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations, but they were also voted to have the best response in the entire world to Covid-19.
Featured Image Credit: The Joe Rogan Experience