Joe Rogan was shocked when he found out "the Meme Guy," Doug Mackey was found guilty on March 31 by a federal court in the Eastern District of New York on charges of election interference. In a gasp, he asked his producer, "he was found guilty?"
One of Rogan’s guests, comedian Big Jay Oakerson, stated of the memes that told Hillary Clinton supporters they can vote by text message, "if you believe that is true, don’t vote anyway."
Rogan went on to suggest that it's because "we are worried about old people," adding "after a certain point in time should you really be voting anyway?"
The conversation was part of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast episode 1966 on April 5th with comedians Big Jay Oakerson and Ari Shaffir.
The charges against Makey, aka Ricky Vaughn on Twitter, were brought on after he posted a meme on November 1, 2016 that encouraged Hillary Clinton voters to "skip the line, vote from home" with a number to text the word "Hillary" to.
The Department of Justice was unable to prove that anyone was actually deceived by the meme when they alleged election interference had taken place.
Other meme’s telling voters to vote for Trump were also spread around the internet at the time, but only Mackey was brought on federal charges for his.
The Assistant US Attorney Turner Buford said at the time "this wasn’t about changing votes. This was about vaporizing votes, making them disappear.” and that “the number was real and set up to receive incoming messages.”
It was reported on March 14th that one of the expert witnesses for the case withdrew his name from the witness list after being contacted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was set to release a hit-piece on the witness. A letter from Mackey’s attorney had stated "The government's motion to preclude the testimony of Professor George Hawley, an expert witness... is sub judice… in an apparent attempt to paint him as an extremist…"
Attorney Andrew Frisch said that the meme would have been seen as "ludicrous to anyone with a basic knowledge of how presidential elections work."
Join and support independent free thinkers!
We’re independent and can’t be cancelled. The establishment media is increasingly dedicated to divisive cancel culture, corporate wokeism, and political correctness, all while covering up corruption from the corridors of power. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. When you support The Post Millennial, you support freedom of the press at a time when it's under direct attack. Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1.
Remind me next month
To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy
