It doesn't matter whether or not he's actually joking. It is not helpful when he has listeners that unironically believe stupid shit like that. We aren't far removed from a time when that was a semi-mainstream opinion, and his fan base is exactly the place where you would expect to find people who are still that retarded.

Not to mention the fact that countless people who are just bystanders and only know about this from a legacy media article now associate the current right with satanic panic retardation. The "say something retarded that is not what I actually think but it's okay because I'm just joking" only works when the thing you're saying is so beyond ludicrous no one could believe it. Otherwise, the media is licking their lips at the softball they just got thrown as they look to take things out of context and make the right lose favor with anyone they can.

It doesn't matter whether or not he's actually joking. It is not helpful when he has listeners that unironically believe stupid shit like that. We aren't far removed from a time when that was a semi-mainstream opinion, and his fan base is exactly the place where you would expect to find people who are still that retarded.