Joe Rogan endorsed Bernie Sanders, and that’s a problem?

Recently, CNN wrote an article entitled, “Bernie Sanders draws criticism for touting Joe Rogan endorsement.” The article’s opening paragraph read, “Bernie Sanders is facing backlash from some Democrats after his campaign trumpeted an endorsement from comedian Joe Rogan, a popular podcast and YouTube talk show host with a history of making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments.”

What an introduction— I don’t know where to begin. They got his name and the fact that he is a popular podcast host correct, but even that is a massive understatement. Rogan averages 200 million podcast downloads per month: That doesn’t include his videos which are later posted on YouTube which is the service through which millions more view his content. He is on every single top ten list by every single service provider (i.e. Spotify, Apple etc). He is often in the number one position for downloads as well. Rogan is more than just popular.

As for the history of making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments, despite having a well-staffed research team, they’ve seemed to have had some trouble digging up anything particularly damming. They wrote that he is, “a divisive figure, who has said the N-word on his show and in 2013 questioned—using offensive language—whether a transgender MMA fighter should be able to compete against other women.” There you have it folks, classic Nazi. He questioned whether a transgender MMA fighter should be able to compete against other women.

This is 2020, we’re done questioning things and as for using the N-word, that is only ever to be spoken for the use of top billboard charting hit music. What I love about the quote too is that he used the word, no context whatsoever, just the fact that he used the word at all. Might said context be omitted because giving it would show that the subject matter permitted it? Because you and I both know damn well that if that word was placed within a full sentence that was in fact that of a true racist, they’d have given us the whole thing.

One thing that is worth noting is that Joe Rogan has done 1420 podcasts to date and they average a little over two hours in length each, with a rough total of 2880 hours of airtime. If you were to watch every single Joe Rogan podcast consecutively it would take about a third of a year. That is a lot of time to air out your opinions and all too much time to try and hide any. Given that CNN had that much primary resource material to hopefully nail Rogan on something, what they came up with is looking pretty weak.

One of the things Rogan’s fans like about him is that he doesn’t censor himself—he’s not opposed to having guests on with conflicting viewpoints.

Ironically enough, the article included the quote in which Rogan endorsed Sanders, “What Bernie stands for is a guy—look, you could dig up dirt on every single human being that’s ever existed if you catch them in their worst moment and you magnify those moments and you cut out everything else and you only display those moments. That said, you can’t find very many with Bernie. He’s been consistent his entire life. He’s basically been saying the same thing, been the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from.”

That’s a powerful endorsement but what’s interesting about the quote is the first part where Rogan talks about isolating certain bad moments in one’s life and cutting out the rest which is precisely what CNN has chosen to do here.

Rogan first got his start in stand-up in the late eighties and was cast on several successful sitcoms through the nineties. He hosted the very popular reality TV show Fear Factor. He is a host and commentator for the UFC and has been since 1997. On top of his podcast he has also released multiple critically acclaimed stand-up specials via hate network Netflix. Of course, all such details haven’t been mentioned.

To suggest that Rogan is known for making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments is ridiculous. If that was the case it is highly unlikely that Sanders would have ever agreed to do his show in the first place. Rogan also interviewed Democratic nominees Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang, whom I suppose were somehow able to overcome his bigotry as well.

Rogan throws a lot of weight around in our contemporary culture, like him or not the numbers are there back that when Rogan says something, people listen. It would have been a godsend for any candidate, on either side of the political spectrum to receive an endorsement from him. I wonder how they might have reacted if it was Biden whom he endorsed? Because that is the real tell in the article when it comes to the bias of CNN. It’s not that they just have a left wing bias, it’s an establishment left wing bias.