Comedian Joe Rogan has answered the question of whether he would ever run for governor of Texas as he discussed politics on his podcast.
Through The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan commands a listenership of an estimated 14.5 million people per episode, according to Digital Music News. He also has more than 19 million followers on Instagram, and recently passed the 19-million mark for subscribers on YouTube.
While his podcasts have been wide-ranging on the subjects discussed, his political takes have garnered increased attention in recent months, after he endorsed President Donald Trump ahead of November's election. Rogan also attended the Republican's inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Monday, January 20.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Rogan told outdoorsman and conservationist Steven Rinella that many politicians are "just actors who are ugly, and they're like, 'Well, I can't really make it in showbusiness, and I want a lot of attention. I want to be a special person, so I'll do politics. I'm good at bulls*******.'"
Rogan added that "most people, you know, they're trusting, like, 'Oh, he's saying the right things.' If you say the right things, you know, abracadabra. And then, next thing you know, you're a f****** governor."
MeatEater host Rinella then inquired: "Are you ever gonna run for governor Texas?"
"No! No!" Rogan, who relocated from California to Texas in 2020, said. "I'm not running for nothing. I don't wanna do nothing. I don't want to do a goddamn thing."
"I could picture down the line, man, you might be like, 'I want to be governor of Texas,' Rinella said of the post, which has been held by Greg Abbott for a decade.
"F*** that! Why would I do that?" Rogan said. "I have the best job in the world. I get to talk s*** with zero responsibilities. If I get something wrong, I go, 'Listen, I'm a moron. Why are you listening to me in the first place?'
"No, I have no desire in any way, shape or form to have anything to do with anything involving politics or—I don't want to be in control of it."
The former Fear Factor host added that he doesn't "even like having employees," although he added that his podcast producer, Jamie Vernon, is "awesome."
Rogan said that an unnamed friend of his has 13 employees on their podcast, which he surmised had led to "interoffice conflicts and people getting fired because people are fighting with each other, and fighting over promotions and … backstabbing each other."
"Yeah, maybe you wouldn't like being governor," Rinella said.
"F*** that. I would hate it," Rogan said. "I don't want to be a mayor, I don't want to be nothing … I don't want to be a city councilman, I don't want to be s***. I don't like the whole thing about it. It's just, it's not a good gig. It's just a creepy business. It's a very creepy and prostitutional business. I don't like it."
Rinella then added that people often enter politics with good intentions, saying: "Part of the impetus that pushes people into it is that they want to reverse that. But I think that then there's a magnetic pole that takes you in the direction of being perhaps what you wanted to get rid of."
Later in the discussion, Rogan, who previously criticized the Republican Party, scoffed at the idea of "battling it out with 460 other creeps who show up in D.C. and lie," before addressing his decision to publicly endorse Trump.
"I did enjoy affecting the election," Rogan said. "I did enjoy because I didn't want to. I did not want to get involved in any way, shape or form. But it got so weird. I was, like, I don't want to have nothing and I don't want to have anything to do with it in the future. I don't, I didn't want to. I just felt sucked into it.
"I'm like, yeah, we can't do this again. We can't do it with these same people that f***** us for four years, and then they're gonna [be] like, 'We're gonna do it differently now.'"
English (US) ·