Joe Rogan's Political Views Are Complex — You Know, Like Most People's

When it comes to podcasting, there is one undisputed king of the platform and that's comedian Joe Rogan. The UFC commentator / actor / comic has become a media wunderkind with his long-form discussions that captivate the attention of so many listeners. The Joe Rogan Experience has been praised by many for its authenticity, thoughtfulness, and broad range of different guests.

As Joe Rogan has become more popular, however, a constant topic of discussion is the man's political views.

In Chris Rock's 2004 stand up special, Never Scared, Chris perfectly summed up a glaring problem many individuals have when aligning themselves to certain political parties: 

"We all got gang mentality...conservatives are idiots and liberals are idiots. Anyone that makes up they mind before they hear the issue is a f--king fool...everybody’s so busy wanting to be down with a gang – 'I’m a conservative, I’m a liberal.' Be a f--king person. Listen."

He continued, "Let it swirl around yo head. Then form yo opinion. No normal, decent person is one thing, OK? I got some s--t I’m conservative about, I got some s--t I’m liberal about."

Joe Rogan's views are probably best summarized by that Chris Rock quote. As a UFC commentator with an avowed love of martial arts and combat sports who believes that men can embrace their "masculinity" without being oppressive of others, Joe has been criticized as a "knuckle dragger."

He's often lumped up with more conservative talking heads, especially because he gives platforms to controversial pro-conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Alex Jones. The image of a muscular, bald-headed man with an American flag hanging on the wall behind him as he tokes a cigar and talks about martial arts while making $70,000 per podcast is also one that might rub very "pro-liberal" individuals the wrong way.

Couple this imagery along with the fact that Joe has been recently accused of being transphobic, was criticized for mocking people who wear masks, and commentates for the UFC, which is run by Dana White, a very close friend of President Donald Trump's, and many would assume Joe is an avid MAGA-shouting Trump supporter as well.

But the truth is, like many Americans, Joe is more "middle of the road" than some would believe.

He was recently accused of being transphobic when he said that transgender athletes shouldn't be fighting in women's divisions as they have natural genetic advantages over their born-female opponents.

However, Joe has expressed support for the trans community, and even remarked with shock and disgust at how transphobic classic comedy film Ace Ventura was. In a comedy bit about Caitlyn Jenner during a comedy special, he prefaced his jokes about the former Olympian with very pro-trans commentary.

Many people were shocked to discover that Joe had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, with many lamenting the fact that someone who propagated "toxic masculinity" was becoming a "Bernie Bro" and that it hurt the Senator from Vermont's chances of getting the Democratic nod. It simultaneously threw uber-conservatives for a loop because Joe had endorsed the "communist" Sanders.

Joe has also gone on the record saying that he will most probably move his home and studio to Texas where he can enjoy a greater level of "freedom" than what he currently has in California. Again, that can be construed as a very "conservative" statement, however, he also espouses ideas that are associated with "liberal" political views.

He's criticized his biological father's own toxic masculinity, openly discussing how he was taught not to cry from a young age.

When it comes to drug use and sexuality, again, Joe is more "liberal" leaning, voicing support for the legalization of marijuana nationwide and espousing the use of psychedelic drugs. He's also been a longtime proponent of gay marriage and deeply disagreed with guest Ben Shapiro on the issue. He even recounted the disagreement with journalist Melissa Chen.

The popular comedian and podcast host has gotten into some hot water recently for saying that if a young person were to ask him whether they should get vaccinated, he would tell them not to. "If you’re like 21 years old and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go, ‘No.' If you’re a healthy person and you’re exercising all the time and you’re young and you’re eating well, I don’t think you need to worry about this."

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said in an interview with CNN: "I guess my first question would be, did Joe Rogan become a medical doctor while we weren’t looking? I’m not sure that taking scientific and medical advice from Joe Rogan is perhaps the most productive way for people to get their information."

Dr. Fauci said that Joe Rogan's suggestion is one that is "self-serving" and only helps in further "propagating the outbreak."

Rogan previously stated in episode #1475 of his podcast that "Fauci is a virus expert that's what he's always been. There's no conspiracy [regarding COVID] he's been a virus expert his whole life...if he's f***** waited until he's 70 years old to cash in his Illuminati chips...he would've already cashed in his chips...he's not a bad guy."

He did go on to say that "The only conspiracy that gives me pause is when people like Bill Gates say we need some sort of a vaccination. Has there ever been a virus...[with] a real vaccine that would work for coronavirus? I don't think there has. I don't think they've ever had a vaccine for a coronavirus."

Rogan went on to say in the much-maligned soundbite from his April 23rd podcast that his experience with COVID was minimal, "I hate to say that if someone's children died from this. I'm very sorry that that happened. I'm not in any way diminishing that. But I'm saying the personal experience that my children had with COVID was nothing."

So what are Joe Rogan's political views? They're not easy to define or put in a box, which is probably what can be said for a lot of people once you actually ask them about individual issues instead of just trying to reduce them to a political party affiliation.