Joe Rogan claims he snubbed Trump on podcast: ‘I DON’T WANT TO HELP HIM’

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Joe Rogan might have some fans in common with Donald J. Trump, but don’t expect to hear the former president on his popular podcast anytime soon.

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In an interview this week, Rogan said that Trump has tried to land a spot on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast several times and the host has turned him down.

“I’ve had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once. I’ve said no every time,” Rogan said on Lex Fridman’s podcast. “I don’t want to help him.”

Rogan went on to describe Trump as a “polarizing figure” and “an existential threat to democracy itself,” adding that he supports the idea of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

“I think Ron DeSantis would work as a good president,” Rogan told actress Gina Carano during an appearance on his podcast, according to the Huffington Post. “I mean, what he’s done for Florida has been admirable.”

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Rogan is Spotify’s highest-paid podcaster, inking a $200 million deal and attracting millions of listeners.

Earlier this year, Trump called Rogan an “interesting and popular guy,” labelling his critics as “Fake News and Radical Left maniacs and lunatics” after old clips of the commentator using the N-word went viral.

“Joe Rogan is an interesting and popular guy, but he’s got to stop apologizing to the Fake News and Radical Left maniacs and lunatics,” Trump said in a news release from his Save America PAC. “How many ways can you say you’re sorry? Joe, just go about what you do so well and don’t let them make you look weak and frightened.”

Despite Rogan’s Trump slam, his listeners are fans of the former president. A survey of 442 Americans who identify as “avid” Rogan fans conducted by Morning Consult found that 52% of his listeners voted for Trump in the 2020 election compared to 21% for Joe Biden.

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In 2020, Rogan supported Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination.

In January, the podcaster courted controversy after 270 scientists and medical professionals claimed he was spreading dangerous “conspiracy theories” about the COVID-19 vaccine in his Spotify podcast following an episode with Robert Malone, a doctor who was banned from Twitter for circulating anti-vaccine misinformation.

According to the New York Times, the conversation included a “false equivalence between the vaccine and Nazi medical experiments, baseless conjecture that President Biden is not actually vaccinated and inaccurate interpretations of government data and guidelines.”

The fallout prompted Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and other musicians to demand Spotify remove their music from the streaming service.

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Rogan apologized to Spotify for the backlash, but defended inviting contentious guests onto his show.

“If I pissed you off, I’m sorry,” Rogan said in an Instagram message. “I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”

In February, Rogan also apologized for his past use of the N-word, calling his behaviour “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”

“It’s a video that’s made of clips taken out of context of me of 12 years of conversations on my podcast. It’s all smushed together and it looks f—ing horrible, even to me,” Rogan said.

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But on an April episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the standup comic and UFC personality claimed the uproar actually helped him grow his following.

“You have been put through the wringer since we last met,” British political commentator Douglas Murray said during an appearance. “They did a number on you.”

“It’s interesting, my subscription went up massively,” Rogan replied. “That’s what’s crazy. During the height of it all, I gained two million subscribers.”

After Rogan’s public snub of Trump, Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist for the former president, said his ex-boss doesn’t need the podcaster’s audience.

“You got Joe Rogan over there, trash-talking Trump, ‘Oh don’t give Trump any platform.’ No offence, he doesn’t need your platform. He doesn’t need your low-information voters,” Bannon said on his podcast, War Room: Pandemic.

Bannon went on to add that Trump “deals with high-information people.”

“Your audience couldn’t handle War Room, couldn’t follow it,” he said, taking a dig at Rogan. “Start talking inverted yield curve, your eyes would cross.”

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