Joe Rogan is in hot water for supposedly making anti-Semitic remarks. The UFC commentator and podcast superstar is known for speaking his mind unapologetically. As a result, he’s received a lot of flack for what he says on his show, the Joe Rogan Experience.
Rogan was defending the comments made by US congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Omar tweeted a couple of years ago that US politicians only support Israel due to financial support from the country’s lobby.
The Minnesotan representative got a lot of backlash as people felt she was talking about a Jewish stereotype. After receiving criticism, Omar apologized and redacted her statement.
Years later, the topic just got referred to in a conversation between Rogan and his guests, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti.
Rogan said that Omar had done nothing wrong and that she shouldn’t have apologized. He said that she wasn’t referring to any stereotypes.
“She’s apologizing for talking about ‘It’s all about the Benjamins,’ which is just about money—she’s talking about money…. that’s not an anti-Semitic statement, I don’t think that is. Benjamins are money.”
Rogan then said that Jewish people are good with money, just like Italians are good with Pizza. This analogy is bringing him a lot of criticism from the media.
“The idea that Jewish people aren’t into money is ridiculous. That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza. That’s f**king stupid.”
Rogan said that Omar isn’t the only one who feels that way. He said that she represents a large group of people and she shouldn’t be silenced for it.
“Whether you agree with her or not, she has a bold opinion, and that opinion is not her own. There’s many people that have that opinion, and they should be represented,”
He referred to how Omar was sitting next to a Jewish person, representative Adam Schiff when she was apologizing.
“My point is, she’s sitting right next to Adam Schiff, and no one says sh*t.”
There are many figures who are thrashing Rogan for his comments. One of them is the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt. He said that Rogan is exposing his large following to anti-Jewish hate. He tweeted the following:
“Disturbing that at a time of rising anti-Jewish violence, when growing numbers of Americans believe in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, @joerogan would use his immense platform to spew anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money,”
Of course, this isn’t Rogan’s first brush-up with anti-Semitism. The media also questioned his support of rapper Kanye West and athlete Kyrie Irving for their respective anti-Jewish remarks.