Joe Rogan has been a staple in the world of MMA for the better part of the 21st century. Longtime comedian, commentator and podcast host tends to describe himself as left leaning but has fallen to a right wing hoax recently.
During a Tulsi Gabbard appearance on his podcast he ended up sharing an anecdote that has since been debunked. Rogan shared:
Rogan claimed that a school “had to install a litter box in the girls room because there is a girl who’s a furry, who identifies as an animal.” He went on to assert that “her mother badgered the school until they agreed to put a litter box in one of the stalls.”
“So this girl goes into the litter room or to the girl’s room and urinates or whatever — I don’t know if she poops in it, that’s pretty gross.” Later on, Rogan dumped even more on this, saying, “Use a [expletive] bathroom. It’s sanitary. It’s much better. Like, you want your house to smell like human pee?”
There were no details pertaining to school’s state, district, locations or any names involved in a story. However the story does mirror something that’s been going around in media.
At a luncheon for Republican women in Mesa County, Colorado, last week, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., warned that educators “are putting litter boxes in schools for people who identify as cats.”
The week before, on Sept. 29, Minnesota GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen asked during a campaign stop, “Why do we have litter boxes in some of the school districts so kids can pee in them, because they identify as a furry?”
And during a legislative hearing last month in Tennessee, two Republican state lawmakers discussed the “growing crisis” of public schools providing litter boxes for children who identify as cats, and claimed it’s happening across the state.
In fact this was repeated so many times comedian John Oliver even compiled a compilation of the urban myth getting repeated.
Every school district that has been named by those 20 politicians said either to NBC News or in public statements that these claims are untrue. There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats.
The only litter that was confirmed at a single school was that one that was a part of an emergency package in case there was a firearms incident at the school so the kids wouldn’t have to leave the classroom. It reportedly also contained wet wipes, diabetic candy and other stuff one might need in an emergency.
While Rogan and Gabbard meant no ill will and laughed about the incident it’s said that the story originated to ridicule gender non conforming individuals.
Rogan and Gabbard went on to criticize Biden administration and their attitudes toward trans participation in sports.
“At what point in time do you not understand you’re denying a child of a fair future? You’re denying them a future scholarship, where they could go to a university and pursue an education. Like, you’re f***ing them up because of this thing that doesn’t even affect you. You’re just doing it for this cult-like ideological perspective.”
Despite being a part of the Democratic party, Gabbard has pushed back on the issue and agreed with Rogan:
“The Democratic party of the past, the Democratic party that I joined, doesn’t exist anymore… The party of JFK [John F. Kennedy], of Dr. Martin Luther King, the party of inclusivity, the big tent party that welcomed and encouraged this marketplace of ideas and conversations, people who held different views, the party of the championed women and equality and the rights of people in our society. That party just… it doesn’t exist anymore. And instead we have a party that’s being led by people who have gone insane with this ideological fanaticism.”