In a recent podcast interview, Joe Rogan hit back at those who believe he's a secret conservative and attacked Republicans who oppose marriage equality.
Rogan chatted with comedian Andrew Schulz on Saturday's The Joe Rogan Experience about the release of Infamous, Schultz's new comedy special, Mediaite reports.
After some time, the conversation turned to politics and Republican opposition to marriage equality, including that of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz had said the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision, which provided for marriage equality, was "clearly wrong" after Clarence Thomas indicated in June that he wanted the Supreme Court to overturn other rights following the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
In his defense of marriage equality, Rogan blasted Republicans who oppose it.
"It's not just abortion rights, but now they're going after gay marriage too, which is so strange to me," Rogan began. "Gay marriage is not silly. It's marriage -- it's marriage from people that are homosexual, and it's, for them, it's important. They want it."
Rogan added, "They want to affirm their love and their relationship. And the fact that they're going after that now almost makes me feel like they want us to fight. They wanna divide us in the best way they can. And this is the best way for them to keep pulling off all the bullshit they're doing behind the scenes is to get us to fight over things like gay marriage or get us to fight over things like abortion. It's just like, why are you removing freedoms?"
Schulz responded in agreement. "If you are gonna say that marriage is an important cultural institution to the fabric of America, you can't remove it from Americans," he said.
"It's so homophobic," said Rogan, who has notedly made transphobic remarks on his show "Because you're saying there's something wrong with being homosexual by saying that you are opposed to gay marriage. You're saying you're opposed to gay people."
Mediaite reports that as Rogan discussed marriage's legal benefits, he spoke about being concerned with people saying he's with the GOP.
"The fact that they're going after that now, like that's the kind of s**t that keeps me from being a Republican. It's only one of the kind of -- there's a bunch of s**t that keeps you from being a Republican," Rogan said. "People will say like, 'Oh, you know, you're a secret conservative.' Like you can suck my dick. You don't know what the f**k you're talking about. I'm so far away from being a Republican."
He continued, "Like I was on welfare as a kid. I think it's important. I think having a social safety net is crucial. We should help each other. We're supposed to be one big community."
But Rogan came under fire recently for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, leading to artists pulling their catalogs and creators pulling podcasts from Spotify, which hosts the entertainer's podcast.
In January, Rogan suggested that the acceptance of trans people is a sign of society collapsing, citing the work of right-wing British author and political commentator Douglas Murray, who claims that trans acceptance will someday be seen as "a late-empire, a bad sign of things falling apart" -- an assertion Rogan has frequently repeated on his show. "[Murray] had an amazing point about civilizations collapsing, and that when they start collapsing they become obsessed with gender. And he was saying that you could trace it back to the ancient Romans, the Greeks," Rogan said at the time.
During the July 14 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan discussed homelessness in Los Angeles with comedian Tom Segura. His attempt at a joke was immediately criticized.
"Sickening. Joe Rogan, who's worth millions, pontificates on the plight of homeless people, then decides the best solution may be just to "shoot the homeless people," wrote entertainment, pop culture, and lifestyle expert Mike Sington.
But one week later, in defense of welfare policies and equal rights, Rogan claimed to be on the left.
"I'm a bleeding heart liberal when it comes to a lot of shit," he said.
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