He tried his best.
That’s Joe Rogan’s response to criticism that he’s gotten over the past day or so after he issued a comment on a potential appearance from Kamala Harris on his popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
The uproar started after former President Donald Trump appeared on the podcast last week for a wide-ranging, 3-hour interview that covered everything from the UFC to the economy and nuclear power. The episode has racked up 40 million views on YouTube alone since being posted last Friday, so naturally everyone is wondering whether Vice President Kamala Harris would take advantage of the massive platform too.
During his interview with Trump, Rogan said that he hoped to have the Democrat nominee on his podcast too, and that he wanted to have a conversation with her and get to know her as a person. And with the reach that his podcast has, it seemed like a no-brainer for the Harris campaign to want to get her on.
But it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen, with the election less than a week away. And earlier this week, Rogan pulled back the curtain on his conversations with the Harris campaign:
“Also, for the record the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast. They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour. I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin. My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being. I really hope we can make it happen.”
Also, for the record the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast. They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour. I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin. My sincere wish is to just…
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) October 29, 2024
So basically, Harris was willing to do the podcast, but only on her own schedule and terms, meaning that Rogan would have to fly to her, and the interview would be limited to an hour.
If you’ve listened to Rogan, you know that his podcasts can easily run 2, 3, even 4 hours sometimes. He likes to have deep conversations with his guests, and they’re always filmed inside his Austin, Texas studio – just like Trump’s was.
Well Rogan said he wasn’t willing to agree to change up the whole format of his show in order to accommodate her. But Kamala’s supporters weren’t happy that Rogan isn’t willing to change things up in order to interview the Vice President:
with a straight face, a podcast host says he is unwilling to travel for an interview with the vice president of the united states of america and democratic nominee for president https://t.co/Q83fnWUPEK
— manny (@mannyfidel) October 29, 2024
Here’s how it’s done, @joerogan:
If YOU ask for the interview, YOU GO TO THEM if they’re working on the road. (Say, attempting to save democracy.)
I’ve been a reporter for 30 years clocking 10,000 stories. You’re podcaster w/a portable mic.
Go get that interview, champ.
— Lisa Guerrero💃🏿 (@4lisaguerrero) October 29, 2024
Come on @joerogan . It’s the last week of the campaign! She’s a little busier than you. Get on a (private) plane and do the interview, even if just for an hour. Americans want to hear it. https://t.co/juOUPMDdQN
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) October 29, 2024
And today, Rogan addressed the controversy – and the criticism from some that he’s acting like a “diva” by not simply agreeing to fly out to meet her.
During his episode today with fellow podcast hosts and comedians Triggernometry, Rogan said that he gave the Harris campaign “an open invitation” to appear whenever they wanted:
“She had an opportunity to come here when she was in Texas, and I literally gave them an open invitation. I said any time. I said if she’s done at 10:00, we’ll come back here at 10:00. I’ll do it at 9 in the morning. I’ll do it at midnight if she’s up.”
As his guest points out, Rogan was offering to Harris exactly what he offered to Trump. And he says that her campaign was “difficult to tie down.” But he wasn’t going to budge on doing the interview in his studio:
“The thing is, if I go somewhere, then there’s going to be other people in the room. And they want to control a lot of things I’m sure. According to the Bret Baier interview on Fox, like people were waving them off. That’s a distraction, people in the room.
My whole goal with her and with him is just talk. Have a conversation like a human being. You find out things about people. You get a sense of them at least, a real sense. That was it. I don’t give a fuck what we talk about, I really don’t. I just want to talk to you.”
Rogan admits that there’s a perception that he’s a “MAGA guy,” but he says that he considers himself politically homeless – pointing out that he was a Bernie guy back in 2020.
Regardless, it doesn’t seem that Joe’s going to be giving in to their demands, and Kamala’s team isn’t going to agree to do the podcast in the same way that all his other guests have done. So at this point, I think it’s safe to say we won’t be getting an episode with the Vice President before the election.
Of course maybe that was the campaign’s plan all along.
