Megyn Kelly Has the Perfect Response to Peter Hotez's Meltdown, Possible Departure From Twitter

As I reported over the weekend, Joe Rogan offered vaccine researcher Peter Hotez $100,000 to the charity of his choice if he would debate Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr about vaccines. This was after Hotez posted a tweet attacking Rogan and Kennedy, citing a VICE article claiming Rogan’s show was spreading “misinformation.”

Peter, if you claim what RFKjr is saying is “misinformation” I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate him on my show with no time limit. https://t.co/m0HxYek0GX

— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 17, 2023

That offer then ballooned to over $2.6 million committed by various people who wanted to see the debate.

6/18 11pm EST UPDATE

💰 The Peter Hotez vs. RFK Jr Charity Debate Pot Is Now Over $2.62 MILLION!!

Here is the Leaderboard:

1) $777k – @jaekwon
2) $500k – @Cobratate
3) $250k – @realnickmugalli
4) $150k – @billackman
5) $100k – @joerogan
6) $100k – @patrickbetdavid
7) $100k -…

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) June 19, 2023

If Hotez thought that Kennedy was spreading misinformation, he had a golden opportunity to rebut his “misinformation” before the millions of people who watch Rogan’s show. However, Hotez refused the debate, which set the Internet ablaze with people weighing in on the issue, including Elon Musk, who said that Hotez was “afraid to debate.”

Hotez even went on MSNBC and said that science wasn’t about debating.

If you listened to what CNN was trying to pitch, you would see everything that has been wrong about the last three years since the pandemic. They had on writer Molly Jong-Fast who painted Hotez as someone who should not be questioned and declared Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a “crank and anti-vaxxer.” What was funny was they were talking about misinformation on CNN which has spread a lot of misinformation itself. Then Jong-Fast pitched some kind of conspiracy about Musk and others wanting to take out Biden with a third-party candidate.

Hotez’s meltdown was something else. He spent most of the last couple of days retweeting every liberal media source that expressed support for him. In all the time he spent doing that, he could have debated Kennedy. He also tweeted this story claiming scientists are fleeing Twitter. He said he was still hoping to remain on Twitter.

I’m still hoping to remain on Twitter, but we’ll see how things go. This was and should be an important outlet for scientists, although far more challenging in its new form. https://t.co/wfgmBjAGAm

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) June 20, 2023

Hotez was quoted in the article:

Hotez told Axios he’s seen a clear shift in anti-vaccine views as part of a well-organized, well-financed anti-science movement, and that’s playing out on the platform.

Others say the platform has at times become “scary” for many health professionals amid anti-science rhetoric. That’s particularly the case for women and people of color, Caballero said.

So science — which used to be about questioning — is now something that should just be accepted as proclaimed from on high by those experts, many of whom were wrong during COVID. And if you dare question or ask for debate, that’s “scary.” How dare you have free speech? Where is the evidence of that “well-organized, well-financed anti-science movement,” by the way? Criticism or disagreement on a subject doesn’t equal “anti-science.”

Having a fit talking about leaving Twitter because he doesn’t like criticism is not exactly a great move.

Professor, threatening to leave the one platform where you can reach the greatest number of people, including non-researchers, because you don’t like criticism, doesn’t look great. If you’re confident about your positions, defend them and permit open dialogue.

— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) June 20, 2023

Plus, if he left, then he wouldn’t be able to get attention by complaining about Twitter, on Twitter, and have liberals tweet back at him about how wonderful he is.

But Megyn Kelly had the perfect response to his meltdown and threat to quit Twitter.