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Actor Josh Brolin recently appeared on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, where he discussed his diagnosis of Bell's palsy — and he and Rogan got into an intense conversation about the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I contracted a mild case of Bell's palsy," The No Country for Old Men star, 56, shared on the November 21 episode of the podcast. "So literally, [I] was stressing out... I'm washing my face, and I'm doing this, and [my face] just started going [sagging]."
Shortly after Brolin told his story, Rogan — who has said he is not anti-vax but has questioned the vaccine numerous times -- posited that Brolin's temporary facial paralysis was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine and the actor agreed. (The National Institute of Health has listed Bell's palsy has a potential side effect of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, while Facial Palsy UK cited in 2023 that "there is no strong evidence that the numbers of reported cases of Bell's palsy are higher [during the time the COVID-19 vaccines came out] than would be expected in the general population.")
"That's one of the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines... That vaccine, in particular. That one. The mRNA one," Rogan claimed, adding: "Yeah, I know quite a few people that develop Bell's Palsy from that, whatever you want to call it... Facial paralysis." He then pointed out that his friends' temporary facial paralysis went away.
"It's a scary prospect, man," Brolin added.
"Well, the f***ed-up thing is, if you talk about it, you're an anti-vaxxer," the podcast host continued. "They've done a really good job of demonizing anyone who questions a medicine that might be correlated with a bunch of serious diseases. They've done a great job of gaslighting people."
He then went on to claim that Hollywood essentially blacklisted Jenny McCarthy after she claimed that her son developed autism from a vaccination, a theory that has widely been debunked. Brolin then asked what the reason was and agreed it was because of money. "Let's not assault your children with a potential poison," Brolin added.
Despite his claims that he's not anti-vax, Rogan has long been outspoken about his controversial theories about the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming that Bill Gates influenced everyone to take it on a prior episode.
In 2021, Rogan said on his show, "If you're like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated?" he questioned, "I'll go, 'No.'"
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