Podcast host Joe Rogan said Wednesday that CNN has garnered a reputation for being "full of s---" after a line on late night television about the network's unbiased reporting was mistaken for a joke, drawing laughter from the live audience.
During a new episode of "The Joe Rogan Podcast" featuring stand up comic Adam Ray, Rogan brought up "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert's off-the-cuff remark about CNN being "objective" during his interview with network anchor Kaitlan Collins Monday night. The comment prompted loud laughter from the audience despite Colbert revealing it was not intended as a joke.
"Start it from the beginning and go big screen because this is so preposterous," Rogan told his producer before playing the clip.
STEPHEN COLBERT'S NEW YORK CITY AUDIENCE LAUGHS AFTER HE PRAISES CNN'S OBJECTIVITY
The top podcaster said the audience's reaction to the notion of CNN being "objective" is indicative of "how crazy the world has gotten.
"How crazy is that? The audience is like shut the f--- up. That is hilarious. They thought he was being a joker. They thought that was a joke. That's how crazy this world has gotten, where fu--ing CNN being unbiased is a joke to people in the audience. That's so crazy," he said.
Rogan said the news organization has strayed so far from "straightforward" journalism and chastised CNN leadership for putting money before journalistic principles.
"If you were running a business, what did you accomplish by doing things that way? You've ruined your business because now, people think you're full of sh-- and you could've just been actual, just straightforward journalists and been beyond reproach and probably gotten away with…" he trailed off.
"But you wouldn't have got as much money. You gotta get those ads in," he quipped.
Collins joined Colbert on the late-night comedy show to discuss her role in covering President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race, the media's relationship with former President Trump and how Vice President Harris had shaken up the 2024 race.
At one point, Colbert started to praise Collins' news organization in a lead-up to a question, stating, "I know you guys are objective over there, that you just report the news as it is…"
The audience erupted into laughter. "No, no no —" Colbert objected while waving his hand and grinning at the unexpected reaction. "CNN makes a…" he trailed off.
"Was that supposed to be a laugh line?" Collins replied.
"It wasn't supposed to be, but I guess it is," Colbert joked back before quickly pivoting to his question. The interaction was widely shared on social media.
CNN developed a reputation as a partisan news organization during the Trump presidency, in large part, due to the anti-Trump tone that dominated the network's primetime programming. Then-White House reporter Jim Acosta was regularly combative with members of the administration. As a result, Trump referred to CNN as "fake news" on a regular basis for years.
TV producer Chris Licht, formerly the executive producer of Colbert's show, took over the network in 2022 and made it clear he wanted to dial back the left-leaning opinion programming that engulfed the network under his predecessor, Jeff Zucker. He made overtures to Republicans who had been alienated by its past coverage and fired some of its well-known liberal anchors and reporters, but Zucker-era staffers remained throughout the company.
Licht was eventually fired in 2023 after reportedly losing the faith of the long-struggling network’s liberal employees.
Left-wing commentators Jeffrey Toobin, Don Lemon and Brian Stelter have made appearances on the network in recent months after being pushed out under Licht's leadership.
Fox News' Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
