UFC commentator Joe Rogan has directly refuted claims made by Kamala Harris and her team regarding why she never appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast during the 2024 election campaign.
Speaking on a recent episode with author Jack Carr, Rogan clarified the circumstances that prevented Harris from appearing on his show, pushing back against what he described as false narratives about the situation.
The controversy stems from Harris’s recent book, where she allegedly addresses not appearing on Rogan’s podcast. According to Rogan, Harris and her team have claimed that he was unavailable due to taking a “personal day” when they wanted to schedule the interview. Rogan categorically denied this characterization during his conversation with Carr.
“They said that I had a personal day, which is not true,” Rogan stated emphatically. “I said I am not available the day that Trump was here. I said that day is not – I didn’t say that I was having a personal day. They just made that up.”
Rogan explained that the scheduling conflict arose because former President Donald Trump was already booked to appear on the show. Rather than being deceptive about the situation, Rogan said he was transparent with Harris’s team about the conflict and offered alternative solutions.
“I wasn’t trying to be deceptive. I said, ‘I’ll do it later. I just can’t do it during this time,'” Rogan clarified. His proposed solution was: conduct both interviews on the same day, with Trump during daytime hours and Harris later that evening after her scheduled event in Houston.
“My idea was to do Trump during the day and then her to come. She had a thing she was doing in Houston. After the thing with Houston, I go, I’ll f**king do it at midnight. I don’t care. We’ll do it whenever you want to do it while you’re in Texas. But I just can’t do during the day because Trump’s going to be here,” Rogan explained.
The logistical challenges of Trump’s visit were significant, with Rogan describing an overwhelming security presence. “There was 200 guys here for Trump,” he noted, emphasizing that the Secret Service operation made it impossible to accommodate another high-profile guest simultaneously. The security detail “surrounded the building” and the studio was “packed” with personnel ensuring Trump’s safety.
Beyond the scheduling conflict, Rogan revealed other issues that complicated potential negotiations with Harris’s team. He indicated that her representatives wanted to limit the interview to 45 minutes and conduct it in a different location, departing from his standard three-hour, studio-based format. There were also suggestions about topics Harris preferred not to discuss, though her team later denied making such requests.
“They never wanted to do the whole thing. They wanted me to do like a 45-minute thing in a different place,” Rogan said. “They didn’t say scripted, but they did say that there’s some things that she didn’t want to talk about. Then they denied that.”
Rogan expressed frustration with what he characterized as misleading statements from Harris’s team, including claims that someone was sent to conduct a walkthrough of his studio. “They also said that they sent someone here to go through the studio, like sent someone to do a walkthrough. Not true,” he stated.
The podcast host maintained that he would have been willing to discuss any topics with Harris. “I don’t care. I’ll talk to you about cooking. I don’t give a f**k. I just want to know who are you? I’ll figure you out. I’ll figure you out in a few hours,” he said.
This clarification comes as Harris faces continued scrutiny over her campaign decisions and media strategy. The missed opportunity to appear on one of the most popular podcasts in America, which reaches millions of listeners, has been viewed by some as a strategic error during a closely contested election.
