Steve-O opened up to Joe Rogan in a recent podcast appearance about a significant moral conflict he experienced regarding his promotional work with DraftKings, revealing a personal turning point that led him to completely change his approach to sponsorships.
The conversation emerged while discussing Steve-O’s recent experiences navigating public criticism and his efforts to repair his reputation. After years of what he acknowledged was excessive self-promotion, particularly in 2022 during the peak of his success following the Jacka*s movie release, Steve-O spent 2024 and 2025 mindfully addressing criticism he agreed with.
The turning point came in January 2025 when Steve-O had Mark Wahlberg on his podcast. He described leaning heavily into spirituality and faith during their conversation, discussing the importance of these values in his life.
However, when the episode aired, Steve-O experienced what he described as a crushing realization.
“I was hiking with my dog through a state park in Tennessee,” Steve-O explained. “And it strikes me, ‘Oh my god, I had the audacity as I knew that the episode went out that day. I had the audacity to cut from this thoughtful conversation about faith with Mark Wahlberg to an ad for g*mbling.'”
The ethical contradiction hit him immediately. “I was like, ‘Oh my god. Like, I don’t have to be in the comment section to know to see people saying what a hypocrite,'” he told Rogan.
Steve-O acknowledged the widespread criticism of g*mbling promotion online, though Rogan pushed back on whether promoting g*mbling inherently makes someone a hypocrite. Rogan argued that g*mbling itself is not the problem, but rather people who lack self-control with it, comparing it to food, alcohol, or other potentially harmful things people can become a*dicted to.
“I don’t think it does harm. I think it does harm if you let it do harm,” Rogan said, adding that he himself could have easily become a*dicted to g*mbling under different circumstances.
Despite Rogan’s perspective, Steve-O remained firm in his decision. “I made a decision on that day hiking with my dog. I said, I’m not going to promote anything unless it’s good for people,” he stated clearly.
He elaborated on his reasoning: “I don’t want to do harm, man. I don’t want to participate in that, you know, and I just haven’t done it since then. I feel good about that, you know.”
This decision was part of a commitment Steve-O made to only promote products that are healthy or at minimum do not cause harm. He referenced his concern about influencer Brian Johnson’s criticism of AG1, a supplement Steve-O promotes, showing his ongoing sensitivity to whether his promotional activities align with his values.
However, Rogan himself has previously spoken about the dangers of g*mbling in stark terms. In an earlier episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he compared g*mbling directly to dr*g abuse, arguing that the damage is just as real even if it looks different on the surface.
“It’s like if you see the dr*g a*dict, you see him, he’s using up or whatever it is, and you see him fainting, you go, ‘Ah, that poor b*stard,’” Rogan said.
By contrast, he noted that a g*mbling a*dict’s struggle is more psychological but equally destructive. “But when you see a guy who’s fully in the grips of g*mbling, trying to figure out how to get his money back, and he’s all jazzed up with adrenaline. He doesn’t understand why.”
Despite acknowledging how destructive g*mbling can be, Rogan himself has partnered with DraftKings and promoted it.
