Joe Rogan, host of the wildly popular Joe Rogan Experience, recently found himself on the receiving end of a media and Twitter-led thrashing. The reason being that he claimed he would be voting for Bernie Sanders. Sanders himself seized the opportunity to share the endorsement on his Twitter page, and like that Pandora’s box flung ajar. Now, speaking with comedian Mark Normand, Rogan took a moment to reflect on the situation.
“They’re using me to make him look bad,” begins Joe, speaking on the matter for the first time. “That he used my endorsement. I had no idea they were going to do that. And all I said was I’d probably vote for him. Here’s a really important point — I’m a fuckin’ moron. If you’re basing who you’re going to vote for president based on what I like? I’m not that balls deep into the stuff.” He also comments on how the masses did exactly what he predicted in the initial video, cherrypicking select quotes and points in order to paint him in an unflattering light. “It’s hard to do that with Bernie, cause he’s a very consistent guy.”
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“Fuckin’ CNN printed something saying I was homophobic and transphobic and there’s a clip they’re using that’s completely out of context,” he continues. “If you’re a trans person listening to this, I got nothing but love for you…This had to do with fighting.” He explains that the video in question centers around controversial a MMA fighter who spent transitioned to become a woman after thirty years. “She started fighting women in MMA and didn’t tell them that she used to be a man,” explains Joe. “Smashing girls. Literally broke a girl’s skull, broke her face. And was kind of bragging about it, hyping up her MMA career.”
“If she disclosed it and everybody knew, I’m a hundred percent in favor,” he says. “If you’re a woman who wants to fight a trans woman and see how you do.” He maintains that he isn’t transphobic in the slightest, and spoke only of athletics in that particular situation. “In terms of your gender identity and what you want to do, I don’t care!” As for the accusations of homophobia, Rogan makes his case. “I love gay people,” he maintains. “But I make fun of them.”
Though the narrative certainly might have painted Rogan in a negative light, he reveals that many actually came forward in support. “Psychology Today wrote an article about how the media is gaslighting [me],” says Joe. “Have I said stupid shit? A hundred percent. I’ve done fourteen hundred plus podcasts, a lot of them high. I said a bunch of stupid stuff – I like to say inappropriate words, because we’re comics. It doesn’t mean I’m homophobic or racist or sexist or transphobic. It’s just not true.” He proceeds to recognize the influence of his own podcast, to the point where its influence cannot be denied. “I don’t think I want to have anything to do with politics after this.”
