Episode 1679: Adam Curry | The Brogan Report

Introduction

Episode 1679 of the Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Adam Curry, aired on July 6, 2021. Curry is a former MTV VJ, internet entrepreneur, and co-host of the “No Agenda” podcast with John C. Dvorak. While Curry has legitimate credentials as a pioneer of podcasting technology (he is widely credited with helping develop the podcasting format in the early 2000s), his “No Agenda” podcast has become a vehicle for conspiracy theories and media narratives that frequently lack factual grounding.

During this three-hour episode, Curry promoted unsubstantiated medical claims about COVID-19 treatments, advanced conspiracy theories about ESG investing and corporate control, used inflammatory framing around transgender issues, and painted a picture of coordinated societal manipulation by elites — all with minimal pushback from Rogan.

The Guest’s Background

Adam Curry is best known as an MTV VJ in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He later became an internet entrepreneur and is widely recognized as a co-creator of podcasting technology. Since 2007, he has co-hosted the “No Agenda” podcast, which bills itself as media deconstruction but regularly promotes conspiracy theories.

Curry has been described as “a very vocal believer in several of the prominent conspiracy theories that surround the 9/11 attacks” and frequently links world events to New World Order conspiracy theories. He has no medical, scientific, or public health credentials, yet regularly makes sweeping claims about vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and public health policy on his podcast.

Source: Adam Curry - Wikipedia; No Agenda Wiki - Recurring Topics

Key Problematic Claims

Claim: Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine Were Suppressed as Effective COVID-19 Treatments

Curry and Rogan discussed ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as treatments that “were initially dismissed but are now being reevaluated,” framing their rejection by the medical establishment as evidence of pharmaceutical industry corruption rather than a reflection of the scientific evidence. Curry promoted the narrative that pharmaceutical companies were suppressing alternative treatments to profit from vaccines. Rogan noted that media coverage characterized ivermectin as merely a “horse dewormer,” framing this as evidence of a coordinated effort to discredit the drug.

Fact-Check: By July 2021, when this episode aired, multiple rigorous clinical trials had already shown neither drug to be effective against COVID-19:

Ivermectin: The FDA explicitly stated it had not authorized or approved ivermectin for preventing or treating COVID-19. A Cochrane review concluded the evidence was insufficient to support its use. Key studies that had appeared to show benefit were later found to be fraudulent — most notably the Elgazzar study from Egypt, which was retracted due to data fabrication. The large TOGETHER trial subsequently found no clinical benefit from ivermectin. A 2022 study in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed ivermectin did not reduce the risk of hospitalization among COVID-19 patients.
Hydroxychloroquine: The NIH halted its clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine after finding no benefit. The WHO stopped the hydroxychloroquine arm of the Solidarity Trial in June 2020, over a year before this episode aired. A meta-analysis published in Nature Communications found hydroxychloroquine was actually associated with increased mortality in COVID-19 patients (odds ratio 1.11 across 26 trials with 10,012 patients). The FDA revoked its emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine in June 2020.

The suppression narrative ignores the fact that these drugs received extraordinary research attention precisely because of public interest — they were studied extensively and found wanting through legitimate scientific processes, not suppressed through conspiracy.

Sources: FDA - Ivermectin and COVID-19; NEJM - Effect of Early Treatment with Ivermectin; NIH - Hydroxychloroquine does not benefit adults hospitalized with COVID-19; Nature Communications - Mortality outcomes with hydroxychloroquine; FactCheck.org - Ivermectin Clinical Trials

Claim: The Pharmaceutical Industry Is Conspiring to Suppress Alternative COVID-19 Treatments for Profit

Curry expressed “concerns about the potential for pharmaceutical companies to profit from pandemic-related developments, even if it means suppressing alternative treatments.” This framing suggests a coordinated conspiracy to hide effective treatments in order to sell vaccines.

Fact-Check: While pharmaceutical industry profit motives are a legitimate area of scrutiny, the claim that effective treatments were being deliberately suppressed is not supported by evidence. Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were studied in dozens of clinical trials across multiple countries by independent research teams — many of whom had no pharmaceutical industry ties and would have been eager to demonstrate a cheap, widely available treatment. The scientific consensus against these drugs emerged from this independent research, not from pharmaceutical industry influence.

The “suppressed treatments” narrative is a common pattern in health misinformation that exploits legitimate skepticism about corporate motives to undermine trust in the scientific process itself.

Source: JAMA - Misguided Use of Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

Curry introduced ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) scoring as “a new mechanism for corporate control and investment,” arguing that companies are “pressured to adopt ‘woke’ policies and messaging to achieve higher ESG scores.” He framed ESG as a tool for “social engineering and the suppression of dissenting views,” linking it to broader conspiracy theories about elite manipulation of society.

Fact-Check: ESG investing is a framework used by investors to evaluate companies based on environmental, social, and governance factors that may affect long-term financial performance. It emerged from decades of research in responsible investing and corporate governance, not from a shadowy conspiracy. While ESG methodology has legitimate critics — including concerns about inconsistent scoring criteria and the tension between financial and ethical objectives — characterizing it as a conspiracy for social engineering misrepresents its origins and function.

As financial analysts have noted, most asset managers adopted ESG criteria in response to demand from end investors seeking to align their portfolios with their values, not due to pressure from a global elite. The conspiracy theory framing that Curry promotes is closely tied to “Great Reset” conspiracy narratives that have been widely debunked.

Source: Medium - Why the Right hates ESG; AIER - The Incoherence of ESG

Inflammatory Framing of Transgender Issues

Curry stated: “we’re at a cultural crossroads when you start beating people up that don’t want little girls to see men’s penises,” framing transgender bathroom access as an issue of child safety and predatory behavior. This characterization plays on debunked fears about transgender people posing threats to children in bathrooms and frames transgender women as “men.”

Fact-Check: Multiple studies and law enforcement reviews have found no evidence that transgender-inclusive bathroom policies lead to increased safety incidents. A 2019 study published in the journal Pediatrics found that fears about safety incidents in gender-inclusive facilities are not supported by evidence. The framing of transgender women as “men” who want to expose themselves to children is a misrepresentation that contributes to stigma and discrimination against transgender people.

Curry’s phrasing — and Rogan’s failure to challenge it — reinforces harmful stereotypes that have been used to justify discriminatory legislation and have contributed to real-world hostility toward transgender individuals.

Claims About a “Biosecurity State” and Erosion of Liberties

Curry discussed the emergence of a “biosecurity state” and raised concerns about “social scoring systems,” drawing parallels between COVID-19 public health measures and authoritarian surveillance. While concerns about civil liberties during emergencies are legitimate, Curry framed routine public health measures as evidence of a deliberate conspiracy to establish permanent technocratic control over society.

Fact-Check: Public health measures during pandemics — including quarantines, contact tracing, and vaccination campaigns — have historical precedent stretching back centuries and are grounded in established epidemiological principles. While debate about the appropriate scope and duration of emergency measures is healthy and important, framing them as evidence of a coordinated plan for permanent authoritarian control is conspiracy thinking that undermines legitimate public health efforts.

Media Conspiracy Around Lab Leak Coverage

Curry claimed that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were part of a conspiracy to “soften” the COVID-19 lab leak narrative for the public, though he later backed away from this claim during the interview when pressed.

Fact-Check: Stewart’s viral segment about the lab leak hypothesis on Colbert’s show in June 2021 was widely covered as a comedian offering his personal opinion, not as evidence of a coordinated media conspiracy. The fact that Curry himself retreated from this claim during the episode underscores how loosely these conspiracy theories are constructed.

Joe Rogan’s Role

Throughout this three-hour episode, Rogan largely served as a receptive audience for Curry’s conspiracy theories and medical misinformation rather than a skeptical interviewer:

Amplified ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine misinformation: Rogan contributed to the narrative by complaining about media characterization of ivermectin as a “horse dewormer,” reinforcing the framing that effective treatments were being unfairly maligned rather than accurately described as unproven.
Failed to challenge pharmaceutical conspiracy claims: When Curry alleged that pharmaceutical companies were suppressing effective COVID treatments for profit, Rogan did not ask for evidence or push back on the conspiracy framing.
Provided uncritical platform for ESG conspiracy theories: Rogan did not challenge Curry’s characterization of ESG as a tool for elite social engineering, allowing these claims to reach his massive audience without scrutiny.
Did not push back on inflammatory transgender rhetoric: When Curry used inflammatory language about transgender bathroom access, Rogan did not challenge the framing or point out that the underlying safety claims are not supported by evidence.

This episode represents a pattern where Rogan’s interviewing style — characterized by agreement and curiosity rather than skepticism — allows guests to present conspiracy theories and misinformation to an audience of millions without adequate pushback.

Real-World Impact

This episode aired during a critical period of the COVID-19 pandemic when vaccine hesitancy was a significant public health challenge. By July 2021, the Delta variant was driving a surge in cases and deaths, predominantly among unvaccinated populations. Promotion of unproven treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as alternatives to vaccination contributed to:

Vaccine hesitancy: People who believed effective alternative treatments existed had less motivation to get vaccinated, contributing to preventable hospitalizations and deaths.
Poisonings from self-medication: The promotion of ivermectin for COVID led to a surge in calls to poison control centers. The CDC issued a warning in August 2021, shortly after this episode aired, about increased ivermectin-related poisonings.
Erosion of trust in public health institutions: Framing legitimate scientific conclusions as conspiracy and corruption undermined public trust in the health agencies working to manage the pandemic.

Source: CDC Health Advisory - Rapid Increase in Ivermectin Prescriptions; Washington Post - Coronavirus misinformation on Joe Rogan’s show

Conclusion

While Adam Curry has legitimate expertise in podcasting technology and internet media, this episode demonstrates the dangers of platforming someone with a long history of conspiracy theory promotion to discuss public health, corporate governance, and social policy. Curry’s claims about COVID-19 treatments, pharmaceutical conspiracies, ESG as social engineering, and transgender issues were presented with minimal evidence and received minimal pushback from Rogan.

The episode aired during a period when COVID-19 misinformation was contributing directly to preventable illness and death, making the irresponsible promotion of unproven treatments particularly harmful. Curry’s conspiracy-laden worldview — connecting COVID, ESG, social scoring, and media manipulation into a grand narrative of elite control — is characteristic of the conspiratorial thinking that has proliferated on Rogan’s platform.