Joe Rogan’s advertisers endorse COVID-19 misinfo, transphobia, and hate

Matthew Dimitri
5 min readApr 30, 2020

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(Image via YouTube of far-right YouTuber and former Fear Factor host Joe Rogan.)

Updated June 28, 2020.

Just in April, Joe Rogan has been an unwavering source of medical misinfo about the COVID-19 outbreak. He’s compared coronavirus to the flu, talked up Donald Trump’s travel restrictions on China as a ‘good move,’ claimed the press is using Trump’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine “to chastise him,” and whined that “[Trump’s] not telling people to go take it.”

Misogyny/Toxic Masculinity

Rogan unleashed misogynistic and perverted remarks about underage boys being molested by their teachers, complaining that “the only ones you hear about are the ones where these pussies can’t keep their mouths shut. They have to go to their mom, and go to the teachers… and go to the cops.”

Conspiracy Theories

Joe Rogan revived the Seth Rich conspiracy: “It’s not like a guy was working for the DNC, and a guy who gave information to [WikiLeaks]. And was shot and killed. They didn’t touch his wallet, or his credit cards.”

On April 14, Right-wing comic Tim Dillon dabbled in the QAnon vaccine conspiracy about Bill Gates. “I know for a fact that he’s been involved in vaccine things that did not go well. This is a reality.”

Joe Rogan gave oxygen to the right-wing conspiracy theory “Obamagate,” and exalted Jimmy Dore for his coverage of the pseudo-scandal.

Trump Apologia

Rogan consistently protects Trump from criticism: “Nobody thought that three months from now the entire country’s gonna be shutdown, and we’re gonna need ventilators everywhere.”

On May 22, David Pakman pushed back on Joe Rogan’s normalization of Trump.

David Pakman also shut down Joe Rogan’s claim that Trump could not have prepared better for the COVID-19 outbreak.

Joe Rogan defended Trump’s deployment of troops against protesters.

Joe Rogan echoed right-wing media COVID-19 conspiracy theory that democrats are intentionally keeping the economy shut down to ensure Trump loses the upcoming presidential election. Of course, Rogan has since distanced himself from the theory, pretending he never circulated it.

Joe Rogan said on April 15: “[Trump] might not be fit to be President, but who is? If you deny the fact that he’s funny we have a problem.”

Racism

On April 9, Rogan allowed right-wing sex pest Michael Shermer on his podcast. Shermer accused the black community of failing to be grateful for Martin Luther King Jr, and their “immediate ancestors’’ progress in ‘civil liberties.’

Shermer also declared on the podcast, unchallenged: “There’s a kind of logic to xenophobia. Other people are dangerous.”

Recently as April 28, Tim Pool appeared on Rogan’s podcast, and excused Trump’s promotion of bleach and alcohol because he has tourette’s like Cartman on South Park, and “has no filter,” asking “what is a disinfectant?”

Joe Rogan: “There’s the really bizarre statement that I’ve heard that black people can’t be racist to white people because they don’t have power over them. Wow! That’s just…”

“It’s inane,” Shapiro replied.

Transphobia

On April 8, Rogan told guest Lex Fridman that due to coronavirus, “you don’t hear about gender pronouns, and a lot of stuff that was supposedly important.”

In November of 2020, Joe Rogan criticized Twitter’s TOS on transphobia: “A man is never a woman, that is a biological fact. Now, if you decide to become a woman, and be recognized in society… that’s just common courtesy.”

The Humanist Report pointed out Rogan confused sex and gender.

Advertisers — and YouTube, need to realize they are profiting off bigotry, transphobia, and medical misinformation. By continuing to advertise on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” they are endorsing dangerous right-wing disinformation, that helps the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Joe Rogan told Ben Shapiro in a August 2, 2017 podcast that trans people fighting for their rights is really about loving to “virtue-signal,” and said “it’s the how dare you with dicks, or lack thereof.” Rogan also appeared to long for a time when trans people were an “oddity.”

Joe Rogan fear-mongered to Shapiro that parents are letting their children change their gender at a young age, “It’s scary,” he fretted.

Ben Shapiro said on the same podcast about transgender people, “they conflate their viewpoint with their identity, and if you have a different view-point, you are denying them their humanity. No, I’m not denying your… I just think what you’re saying is dumb.”

Joe Rogan interjected, “that’s a very good point.”

Rogan also asked — in an attempt to manufacture a false dilemma about transgender people attaining rights— “Where does this go, how does this boil down?”

Shapiro snarkily replied, “It goes to one place, or another. Either we just say this is too far, give me a break, and we pull back. Or, we say anyone can be anything at any time. A man is a woman, and a woman is a man.”

The list is updated regularly, and this is a working post.

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