Joe Rogan is accusing MSNBC of “deceptively” editing video footage to make it look like he was praising Vice President Kamala Harris. “They don’t care about the truth,” Rogan said of the news outlet. “They just want a narrative to get out there amongst enough people, because most people are just surface readers.”
“This is what MSNBC did, they took a clip of me talking about Tulsi Gabbard, and they edited it up and made it look like I was saying great things about Kamala Harris,” Rogan told neuroscientist Andrew Huberman during Tuesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
A seemingly shocked Huberman, who is also a tenured professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, reacted, “Wait, what?”
“Yeah,” Rogan said. “They didn’t do it like AI, they just deceptively edited the things that I was saying — took it completely out of context.”
“First of all, I was talking about Tulsi Gabbard,” Rogan said of the first clip, adding that the second clip featured him talking about “the media behind Kamala Harris — all this surge and all these people deciding that she’s good, she could win.”
“And they put the two of those [clips] together and made it seem like I was praising Kamala Harris and saying a bunch of things that aren’t even true about her,” Rogan said.
The podcaster went on to explain that he “was talking about Tulsi Gabbard being a Congresswoman for eight years, and about how she served overseas — two deployments in medical units, dealing with people who are blown up from the war.”
“That’s not something Kamala Harris did, that’s something Tulsi Gabbard did,” Rogan said. “I was just saying things about [Gabbard], and they put it out there as a clip of me praising Kamala Harris.”
Rogan added that MSNBC did this because “They don’t care about the truth. They just want of a narrative to get out there amongst enough people, because most people are just surface readers.”
The former Fear Factor host said that most people “read a headline” and decide, “Oh, I know what that is,” and “then you shut your laptop.”
Rogan also dispelled rumors that he will be suing MSNBC as a result of this.
“This has gotten so popular that my fucking stepdad contacted me to tell me he’s happy that I’m suing MSNBC,” he said, adding that he told his stepfather, “I’m not suing MSNBC.”
Gabbard, who endorsed former President Donald Trump on Monday, posted the footage to X earlier this month, saying, “MSNBC was exposed today for yet another set of lies.”
“They deceptively edited together this video of different Joe Rogan comments to make it appear that he was singing the praises of Kamala Harris,” Gabbard said.
“This is not reflective at all of the truth of what Joe Rogan said,” the former congresswoman continued. “This is yet another example of how MSNBC is working hand in glove with the Democrat elite and the Kamala Harris campaign to try to spread lies.”
Gabbard added that MSNBC is “trying to use their platform that has nothing to do with journalism, it is purely a propaganda platform” that abuses their status as a news outlet “to try to deceive the American people” in an attempt get Harris elected.
MSNBC has since removed the video from their platform and issued a correction — but as Rogan said, the damage is done, as the narrative has already gotten it out there, and “most people are just surface readers,” who could miss the correction.
Joe Rogan walks back RFK Jr. support after MAGA meltdown
Joe Rogan wants you to know that calling Robert Kennedy Jr. “the only” presidential candidate who “makes sense” wasn’t an endorsement.
It sounded like Rogan was backing the long shot independent presidential candidate when, during a Thursday episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he called Kennedy Jr. a “legitimate” guy and described himself as “a fan.”
When discussing a hypothetical debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris with his guest, Bob Gymlan, Rogan said politicians “gaslight you, they manipulate you, they promote narratives,” adding: “The only one who’s not doing that is Robert F Kennedy Jr.”
Kennedy Jr. embraced Rogan’s praise in a post on X, writing: “From one ‘legitimate’ guy to another, thank you @JoeRogan for always putting substance first.”
But by Friday, Rogan walked it back after facing a meltdown from MAGA stans and direct attacks from Donald Trump himself.
“For the record, this isn’t an endorsement,” Rogan said in a post on X over a clip of him praising Kennedy Jr. “This is me saying that I like RFKjr as a person, and I really appreciate the way he discusses things with civility and intelligence. I think we could use more of that in this world.”
Rogan added: “I also think Trump raising his fist and saying ‘fight!’ after getting shot is one of the most American fucking things of all time. I’m not the guy to get political information from.”
But his post was too little too late to appease Trump and his allies, who continued to attack the podcaster online.
“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social shortly after Rogan publicly hedged his support of Kennedy.
On Rogan’s post, Trump allies continued to insult Rogan’s intelligence and trustworthiness. Some suggested the only way Rogan could redeem himself would be to host Trump for an interview on his massively popular podcast.
“It sounds like you just realized that most of your listeners are Trump supporters,” one user wrote in response to Rogan walking back his comments about Kennedy Jr. “Maybe you should support them as much as they support you.”
Rogan and Trump’s shared demographics
In a 2022 appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast, Rogan said he has repeatedly turned down Trump’s requests to be on his show and indicated he is “not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form,” adding, “I’m not interested in helping him.”
According to a YouGov poll, Rogan’s audience is 81% male, with more than 56% of listeners under 35 — a key demographic for Trump in the coming election. While Rogan has sometimes been painted as a conservative figure for his controversial statements about COVID-19 and his support of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he hasn’t officially endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant, told The New York Times that Rogan’s support of Kennedy Jr “takes straight from the Trump base.” While Kennedy Jr. has embraced his campaign as a “spoiler” for both Biden and Trump, political consultant James Carville has predicted his candidacy would harm Trump’s campaign more than the Democratic ticket.
In July, it briefly appeared that Kennedy Jr. would drop out of the race and endorse Trump himself. However, a potential deal between the two — in which Kennedy Jr. would receive a cabinet position in exchange for his endorsement — fell through.
Attacks from Trump allies have recently caused other conservative figures to backtrack from criticizing the former president.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who became a darling among conservatives after he was acquitted of killing two men during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2021, last week said Trump “has bad advisers, making him bad on the Second Amendment,” BBC reported.
“If you cannot be completely un-compromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you,” BBC reported Rittenhouse said on X, the social platform formerly Twitter, adding: “I support my decision and I have no take-backs.”
Within 12 hours, after a barrage of pointed attacks from Trump supporters, BBC reported Rittenhouse reversed course, writing in a separate post that he’d had “a series of productive conversations with members of the Trump’s team and I am confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights.”
Representatives for Kennedy, Trump, and Rogan did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
