‘Ignorant’ Woody Harrelson criticised for comments about HIV drug on Joe Rogan podcast

Actor Woody Harrelson has come under fire for his medical opinions, after he called Dr Anthony Fauci “extraordinarily evil” for the use of an early preventative drug for Aids.

Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Saturday (22 February), Harrelson said he believed azidothymidine (AZT), the first antiretroviral medication used in the battle against HIV/Aids, was “highly toxic” and that Fauci was wrong to distribute it.

Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, was one of the lead researchers during the early years of the Aids pandemic and became a key figure in the search for a cure. He was also an integral part of the COVID-19 response team in the US and has faced significant flak from conservatives for approving vaccinations.

AZT was approved for use for HIV patients in 1987. Debates over its effectiveness have continued but there is no evidence to suggest it was toxic.

However, Venom star Harrelson claimed: “AZT was known to be a highly toxic, really ineffective drug, and of course, that was the one they picked.

“They started using that again, and I don’t know how many people got killed.

“That killed friends of mine. AZT was very toxic and they finally had to yank it. Now they use different chemical cocktails but Fauci did some extraordinarily evil s**t.”

Harrelson, who shot to fame as the not-too-bright Woody in Cheers in 1985, went on to praise US secretary of health Robert F Kennedy JR, a prominent anti-vaxxer who has spread disinformation, including that Lyme disease was “highly likely to have been a military weapon”.

WOODY: “AZT was known to be a highly toxic, really ineffective drug. And of course that was the one they picked … That k*lled friends of mine … Fauci did some extraordinarily evil sh*t, and he knows what he did.” pic.twitter.com/nvxmaukv3X

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 23, 2025

Those who lived through the height of the Aids scare were quick to criticise Harrelson, with one user saying AZT “was all we had [and] it kept a lot of people alive for a lot longer than they would otherwise have had”.

They went on to say. “Joe Rogan and Woody Harrelson exhibit a wilful, belligerent ignorance I find hard to comprehend. It’s like they love being stupid – and wrong.”

Harrelson was criticised in 2023 for making conspiratorial claims, during an Saturday Night Live monologue where he seemingly joked about COVID-19 restrictions.

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