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Joe Rogan and Elon Musk have responded to comments made by the ABC’s chair Kim Williams, who suggested the popular podcaster “preyed on people’s vulnerabilities” which he found to be “deeply repulsive”.
With the caption “LOL WUT”, Rogan reposted a clip on social media platform X of the ABC chair criticising him during an appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Hours later Mr Musk weighed in, comparing the ABC to Russian state media in a separate post on X.
“From the head of Australian government-funded media, their Pravda,” he wrote.
Pravda, which translates to “truth”, was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Responding to a question after his address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, the ABC chair said [people like] Rogan “preyed on people’s vulnerabilities” and suggested they help spread conspiracies.
“They prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society, and they entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative,” Mr Williams said.
“I personally find it deeply repulsive to think that someone has such remarkable power in the United States is something that I look at in disbelief.”
The comments come after Mr Musk was critical of the Australian government’s plans to restrict social media use for young people.
The world’s richest man has been named as head of a new department of government efficiency in Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
Speaking with Raf Epstein on ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday morning, Mr Williams’ in turn said he had been exposed to a “huge pile-on” after Rogan and Musk responded to his criticism.
“What fascinates me is, you say something negative about Joe Rogan and I have been swarmed with the most unbelievably vicious responses,” he said.
“You make a comment in response to a legitimate question from a journalist, you answer it concisely and give an honest answer in terms of what your own perception of what [Rogan] is and suddenly I get this huge pile-on from people in the most aggressive way … saying that I have a warped outlook on the world, that I am an embarrassment to our nation, that I am in some way unhinged.”