During a recent episode of his podcast with exercise scientist Chris Williamson, Joe Rogan addressed the controversial 2025 World’s Strongest Woman competition, where biological male Jammie Booker competed and initially won before being stripped of the title.
When Williamson brought up the competition, Rogan’s reaction was immediate and visceral. Looking at an image of Booker, he stated plainly: “That’s a man. Are you sure?”
The revelation that Booker had lied about their biological sex particularly concerned both men. According to the statement that was read during the podcast, they were “unaware of this fact ahead of the competition” and noted that “had we been aware or had this been declared at any point before or during the competition, this athlete would not have been permitted to compete in the women’s open category.”
Rogan expressed sympathy for runner-up Andrea Thompson, who had been filmed storming off the podium in protest. “How horrible is it to be the person who won but had that moment the podium moment stolen from you by somebody?” Williamson asked.
The physical disparities were stark, and Williamson didn’t hesitate to point them out. “Just for clarity, Mitchell Hooper, that is the world’s strongest man, Canadian dude, he’s 6’3, 330. The person who won woman’s strongest man is 6’4 and 400 lb. She makes the current World’s Strongest Man look like an infant,” he said.
Rogan believes this issue represents a turning point in public opinion on transgender athletes in women’s sports. “I think that is slowly but surely losing traction and support. I really believe that,” he said.
He explained his reasoning: “You’re going to lose most women that have ever done a sport. You know, if you are a sedentary woman that has no interest whatsoever in athletic competition and you think it’s more than a good price to pay to let biological males who identify as women because we want them to be exclusive, it’s more important to recognize and affirm their identity than it is to be fair. You haven’t done any sports.”
He continued: “You’re going to lose not just most of the men, you’re going to lose a lot of… you’re going to lose anyone right of center, like libertarian, anyone. You’re going to not just lose all of the right, you’re going to lose a giant chunk of the center, because I think the center in this country is probably the most rational of all groups.”
Rogan emphasized biological reality repeatedly throughout the discussion: “It’s ridiculous. It’s not the same. You know, it doesn’t mean that someone shouldn’t be able to change their name and identify as a woman. It’s just like you you can’t dominate women’s sports, can’t dominate women’s spaces. You can’t… you’re not a woman. You know, we’ll call you one if we want to be nice. But the reality is there’s a there’s biological sex is a real thing.”
He also raised concerns about what he calls “sandbagging”—when people deliberately compete below their actual level to win easily. “There’s people that will pretend they’re a woman to beat up women. And if you don’t think that’s the case, you haven’t met enough psychos,” Rogan stated bluntly.
“Are there also people that are out of their f**king mind and want an excuse to beat up women and pretend they’re a woman? If you tell them they could wear a dress and they could just run past all the ladies and dominate them on the field, yeah, they’re going to do that, too. That’s a that’s a real type of human being.”
He finally said, “It’s not fair to make women compete against biological males.”
