Up To Date With Ethan Callender Entry 27: Going Rogan

Does anybody remember that old stunt show called Fear Factor? You know, where the contestants had to perform risky and risque stunts on national network television? It was the show where one group of contestants had to guzzle a particular bodily fluid from a donkey. I’m not even going to say which fluid in particular, by the way. It’s that gross. Well, the host of that show is now relevant in broader culture once again, and his name is Joe Rogan. 

Now the host of a popular podcast on Spotify, this cockroach of a man just finds all sorts of ways to keep his career alive. However, his venture for the past decade, which is that podcast (The Joe Rogan Experience), is now coming under massive fire. From repeated racial slurs to incessant COVID misinformation, the show has it all. If you couldn’t already guess, I don’t mean that in a good way. 

Let’s begin with the COVID misinformation. There have been many examples of this, such as Dr. Robert Malone suggesting the existence of a “mass formation psychosis” in regards to vaccine mandates. He also said that healthy young people don’t need a COVID vaccine, and repeatedly touted ivermectin as a COVID cure. Millions of people listened to this “sound medical advice” (AKA BS), and the FDA had to release this statement warning people about the risks of the drug. Ivermectin treats certain parasitic infections such as roundworm, by the way. In case you couldn’t already tell, COVID and roundworm are two entirely different types of infections. Because of this, it’s highly unlikely that one drug could treat both of these diseases.

And then, there’s the past usage of racial slurs. Yes, he apologized for those remarks, as well as his COVID misinformation. However, that doesn’t exonerate him, nor would it for anyone. Spotify straight-up removed dozens of episodes of Rogan’s podcast over this, and he has likely lost the previous support he had from outside his fanbase. Joe Rogan is and always has been somewhat problematic, and now he’s playing doctor and influencer to millions through misinformation. It’s a dangerous trend, and whatever disciplinary action that Spotify wants to take should and must be taken.

If I were Spotify dealing with this fiasco, I would ideally want Rogan to learn from this and use his platform to admit his mistakes directly to his audience. That means he needs to use his podcast itself to admit he f***ed up big time, and not just post half-assed apologies on Instagram. He’s let his influence get to his head, and now he’s spreading bigotry and COVID lies in a manner similar to that of a breached dam. He’s desperate to stay relevant, and I for one hope that he can get out of his own way. If he does indeed get his contract terminated, it would be beneficial to both Spotify and society, and Rogan could always pick up the pieces on another platform. After all, he’ll still be popular with his crowd. I’d like him to be able to own up to everything in a sincere manner and genuinely become a better person and podcaster. 

If this controversy continues or he doesn’t learn anything anytime soon, Spotify may feel the pinch in their pockets, and decide to cut Rogan off. Once that happens, his best bets are far-right equivalents like Rumble or something. There, a terrible fate awaits him and his podcast: mainstream irrelevancy. He will fall off the tightrope he is walking on, one with the mainstream on one side and the fringe right on the other. That fall will be eternal, into the void, an agonizing oblivion of irrelevance. For his sake, he needs to get his act together. I’m sure that if much more comes out about his past, or if his ugly side continues to expose itself this brazenly, he’ll finally be ‘cancelled’. In fact, as much as I hate the term and its frequent abuse, he may very well deserve it.