5 celebs supporting Joe Rogan, the white anti-vaxxer, and his podcast on Spotify
The United States has been divided into three groups – protesters, supporters and fence-sitters. Why? Because of one white man and his talk show. We are talking about commentator Joe Rogan and his massively popular Spotify podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience'.
When a not-so-popular American singer Neil Young gave Spotify, an audio streaming platform, an ultimatum to either remove his songs or Joe Rogan’s podcast in protest against Covid-19 misinformation, the platform stuck with Rogan and abandoned the singer.
Many thought that it was the end of the controversy. However, soon after, a legion of other American celebrities joined Young in their boycott of the platform. Some singers like Joni Mitchell and India Arie and other podcasters like Brene Brown and Mary Trump removed their content from the platform. Others voiced their protest against the commentator, with the Basic Instinct actress Sharon Stone calling Rogan an ‘as*****’.
But Rogan is quite popular and many other celebrities in the US have come forward in support of him as well.
Here are 5 famous celebs who came out in support of Joe Rogan:
1. ELON MUSK
Are you surprised to see this name here? Well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise since Elon Musk tweeted in support of the anti-vax Canadian Truckers protest or that he smoked marijuana during his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.
To clarify, Elon Musk has not tweeted or said anything in so many words in support of Joe Rogan, except for appearing on his show a while ago, posting a meme, or liking an ‘I stand with Joe Rogan’ tweet.
Recently, Musk ‘liked’ a tweet by another podcast host Lex Fridman who said that he stands with Joe Rogan amid the controversy. Days ago, replying to the same podcaster about the Young vs Rogan controversy, Musk had posted a meme criticising the singer for trying to censor Rogan.
2. KEVIN JAMES
The Grown Ups actor and comedian Kevin James commented his support for Joe Rogan on the podcaster’s apology posted to Instagram. James said, “Joe – we go back way back and all these years I’ve known you to be nothing but objective and seeking the truth. Thank you. Love you brother.”
3. RUSSELL PETERS
Yes, he’s the comedian who makes the ‘Indian immigrant’ jokes. Peters also tweeted in support of Joe Rogan.
4. BEN SHAPIRO
No surprises here. The American conservative political commentator in a supportive tweet for Joe Rogan claimed that ‘activists’ were holding on to this ‘opportunity’ to destroy a person and that they don’t really care about what he said in the past.
5. JEWEL
Like Kevin James, American singer Jewel also commented in support of Joe Rogan on his apology posted to Instagram. The Grammy-nominated singer told Rogan, “You are doing a great job. Keep it up.”
While there were some celebrities who voiced outright protest against Rogan, and others who supported him, there were also some who can be described as fence-sitters.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said that they were concerned about the controversy but didn’t say they would be pulling out of the million-dollar deal with Spotify. The Daily Show host Trevor Noah spoke in defence of Joe Rogan after his apology came out on Instagram.
And actor Dwayne Johnson or 'the Rock' who had expressed his support to Rogan following the apology, withdrew his support later, just like how Spotify changed its stance slightly by removing some episodes of Rogan's podcast after having given him their unconditional support.