During episode #2515 of The Joe Rogan Experience with guest Chase Hughes, Joe Rogan reflected on the intense campaign to have him removed from Spotify during the COVID-19 era and how he viewed the backlash that followed.
When Hughes asked how it felt to be portrayed negatively by CNN, Rogan said he never took it personally.
“Oh, it didn’t make me feel like s**it for a second,” Rogan said. “I started laughing. I thought it was hilarious.”
He argued that major media outlets underestimated both his reach and their declining influence.
“I was also very aware that they weren’t aware that my show was way bigger than them,” he said. “They had gotten delusional. They had been like a champion that didn’t think that he had to train anymore and then some new contender came along.”
Rogan also revisited the controversy surrounding CNN’s coverage of a video in which critics accused the network of altering his appearance by adding a green tint.
“Not just that, they’re also making a green version of a video that exists on Instagram first,” Rogan said. “So it’s already out there. You don’t think the internet is going to see that there’s a difference in my skin tone on CNN than on Instagram? On Instagram, I look rosy and healthy.”
The comedian said he was equally surprised by the reaction to his discussion of Ivermectin, which became one of the most controversial topics associated with him during the pandemic.
“Nor did I ever think that it was going to be controversial to talk about Ivermectin,” Rogan said. “I had no idea. Ivermectin was not a controversial stuff before I talked about it in that one video.”
According to Rogan, the public controversy ultimately drove more people toward his platform.
“I gained 2 million followers on Spotify in a month,” he said.
He believes many people became curious after seeing the widespread efforts to criticize and deplatform him.
“People were just like, ‘What is going on that everybody’s trying to cancel this guy? Like, what is he doing?'” Rogan said. “And then they’d listen and go, ‘Oh, it’s just a show where they talk to people. What are they trying to hide from us?'”
Rogan also revealed how close he believes the situation came to affecting his Spotify deal.
“Thank god I was on Spotify,” he said. “And thank god Spotify is not an American company. And also it helped that I was number one in like 90 countries.”
He then claimed that political figures had personally contacted Spotify in an effort to have him removed from the platform.
“There was presidents involved and former presidents involved that were contacting Spotify,” Rogan said. “Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Trying to get me removed for vaccine misinformation.”
Looking back, Rogan expressed frustration that he never received any acknowledgment from critics after many pandemic-era narratives were later challenged.
“And it turned out to be right. All of it,” he said. “Not a single apology from anybody. Not a single retraction, not a single mea culpa, not a single ‘we were wrong.'”
He also alleged that organized groups invested significant resources into efforts to damage his career and business relationships.
“They tried to crush my sponsors. They organized campaigns. There was PACs involved,” Rogan said.
While he declined to elaborate on the details, he suggested the campaign was extensive.
“There was a lot of coordination,” Rogan said. “I don’t talk about it too much because it’s pretty deep. It was nuts, but it didn’t work, right?”
He continued: “But they tried and they spent a lot of money. A lot of money. It wasn’t a small amount of money. It wasn’t a small amount of people. It was a lot of people and a lot of money.”
Despite everything that happened, Rogan said he never lost his sense of humor about the situation.
“The turning my face green was hilarious. That didn’t bother me at all,” he said. “It’s also I’m a comedian, you know what I mean? Like I’m a talker. Like that’s what I do. If you talk s**t to me, it’s like you’re not going to hurt my feelings that much.”
