Joe Rogan comes to the defense of Jimmy Kimmel, calling for America a “community”
The podfather spoke. Joe Rogan, the actor transformed the massively influential podcaster who approved Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the last two elections, offered some reflections on Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday. He turned against the conservatives, with whom he has a general public, calling them “crazy” to celebrate Kimmel’s suspension on the comments related to Charlie Kirk. But he also called on the country to meet in a “community” and pleaded for certain solutions traditionally on the left, namely a “solid social security net”. While going back and forth on the question of whether the United States is really in the midst of a “cultural war”, Rogan nevertheless pleaded for policies to counter what he considers an unprecedented disturbance of society.
On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan experience, Rogan came to the defense of the end of evening host ABC, Kimmel, who was suspended by the parent company Disney following outdoor comments on the shooter of Charlie Kirk. In his monologue of September 15, Kimmel criticized Trump’s supporters to Kirk’s death, saying that “Gang Maga is desperately trying to characterize this child who murdered Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them, and they do everything they can to score political points.” Kimmel returned to the air Tuesday evening on about 75% of ABC stations, the main Nexstar and Sinclair subsidiaries refusing to broadcast the program.
Rogan was unequivocal in his defense of Kimmel’s right to speak freely, while recognizing that Kimmel’s remarks characterizing the shooter like a supporter of Maga were “factually inaccurate”. Rogan then questioned the official “story” of Kirk shooting. (For years, Rogan has been criticized for the conspirator of his super popular podcast.)
“I certainly do not think that the government should be involved to dictate what an actor can or cannot say in a monologue,” said Rogan. He specifically warned the conservatives who celebrated Kimmel’s suspension, warning that such a power would inevitably be used against them in the future. Rogan also defended the joke in question as “very funny” and a “good joke”. He argued in a libertarian vein that if the public is offended through a host of a host, the appropriate response is to stop watching and “let the market decide” for the fate of the show.
Community values
This defense of open speech was part of the broader argument of Rogan against intense political polarization which, according to him, is dangerously amplified by the same Internet economy which made him a superstar of the podcast. He argued, without evidence, that the foreign “bot” are designed to “make people hate themselves”. For what it’s worth, Fortune said in July that “bad robots” are really omnipresent on the internet, with the cybersecurity company Thales, through its waterproof subsidiary, noting that almost 50% of the whole Internet traffic came from non -human sources.
This constant manipulation, explained Rogan, brings people to a “pitch of the culture war” where they lose their morality, citing disturbing clips of people who encourage the news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk as an excellent example. “People would not have reacted like that 20 years ago,” said Rogan. However, he insisted that Kimmel’s jokes and rhetoric should not be grouped with what he considers a degradation of morality.
“Everyone, because they are online all the time, really believes that there is this crazy cultural war that we have to get up and fight,” he said, qualifying this kind of quarrels a “stupid” distraction of the monumental changes that occur in the world, as the rise of artificial intelligence. As an antidote, Rogan passionately urged the return to a fundamental principle: “We must be a community … It is the United States of America, we are supposed to be a country, as, we can have differences in opinions.” He added that political stories should not be reduced to binary arguments “stupid” right against left.
A crucial component of Rogan’s vision for this community is the implementation of a stronger social security net, which it considers urgent due to the rise of AI and automation. He predicted that AI would eliminate a large number of jobs – from transport and banking services to coding and legal professions – and that without preparation, the result will be “chaos”. He returned to an idea that he has recommended several times, a universal basic income, declaring: “You will have to have a way to feed people.
“When I was a child, my family was in social protection, we were poor,” said Rogan, adding that he was grateful to the government’s support they received. He has widened this principle to defend the fundamental security of all citizens, arguing that basic needs and learning should be guaranteed. “You must have food, you must have accommodation, you should have an education, everything should be a free education at the college level,” he added.
The Joe Rogan experience did not respond to a comment request.
For this story, Fortune Used a generative AI to help an initial project. An editor checked the accuracy of the information before the publication.
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