Joe Rogan has announced that he had to cancel plans for an interview with US presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris on his podcast.
Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is the most popular in the US. According to Spotify, Rogan's show is its top podcast with 14.5 million followers. The comedian, TV host and sports commentator has interviewed an array of politicians, sportspeople, musicians and actors since the show premiered in 2009.
Rogan said in X (formerly Twitter) post on Tuesday that Ms Harris’s campaign “has not passed on doing the podcast”.
He said: “They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour.”
Rogan’s recent episode with Ms Harris’ opponent, former president Donald Trump, lasted just under three hours.
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
“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 hope we can make it happen.”
While Ms Harris’s interview with Rogan will not happen for now, here are some notable names he has interviewed on his podcast.
Donald Trump
The Republican presidential nominee appeared on the podcast in a highly anticipated episode on October 26. Mr Trump discussed diverse topics with Rogan, including his defeat in what he called the “crooked” 2020 US election; his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (who he referred to as “Little Rocket Man”); and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Many pundits have said that candidates appearing on the podcast (or not, in Ms Harris’s case) could be pivotal in deciding the US election outcome. Of the show’s 17.3 million subscribers, 80 per cent are reportedly male. According to the BBC, Mr Trump’s core demographic consists of mostly men, while women tell pollsters they prefer Ms Harris.
Elon Musk
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has appeared on the show four times. His 2018 interview — where he discussed his business ventures and smoked marijuana — has attracted more than 68 million views on YouTube. However, after the episode aired, Tesla stocks dropped by nine per cent.
In his 2023 interview, the X owner discussed why he bought the social media platform: “This is going to sound melodramatic but I was woried that it was having a corrosive effect on civilisation,” he told Rogan. “Just having a bad impact”. Musk and Rogan also criticised people who continued to wear face masks.
Miley Cyrus
The Grammy-winning singer starred in a 2020 episode of the podcast, where she discussed taking drugs as a teenager, her relationship with her godmother Dolly Parton and the double standards she feels as a woman in the entertainment industry. “Why am I not getting that I’m a creative mastermind, but I’m becoming a b*tch? No one would ever say that about Kanye West choosing what lighting he wants on a performance,” she said.
Lance Armstrong
Appearing on a 2015 episode of the podcast, the former professional cyclist spoke about his early career, his battle with cancer and the doping investigation that ultimately ended his professional career. “If it would’ve been in this day and age with Twitter and Facebook and social media, it would’ve been a thousand times worse,” he said of the scrutiny he came under during his professional career. When discussing the 2013 Oprah Winfrey interview in which he laid bare his doping scandal, Armstrong said he “wasn’t emotionally ready” for the interview.
“The feds and other lawsuits forced my hand, I had to sit there with that, cause I knew I was going to be sitting with her, or with you, or with Tom Brokaw or I was going to be sitting with a government lawyer being deposed, being videoed and being leaked,” he said told Rogan of the infamous interview.
Macaulay Culkin
One of the most famous child actors of the 90s, Home Alone star Culkin revealed that the film’s sequel took nearly five months to film because of New York’s child labour laws. He also discussed the harsh realities of working in the industry as a child. “In general, I never really liked being fussed over... Like the hair and make-up, costume people poking at you all the time... I actually wasn’t a huge fan after a while. It does become a job after a while,” he said.
The actor’s comments during the 2018 episode drew criticism years later after the birth of his son with Asian-American actress Brenda Song. “I’m gonna have tiny little Asian babies,” he said. “It’s going to be adorable — a bunch of Sean Lennons running around the house, that’s what I’m looking for,” Culkin told Rogan, referencing the biracial son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Many argued that the comments fetishised and exoticised his then-partner and future children.
Kanye West
The rapper, producer and fashion designer — who came under fire for several antisemitic statements in 2022 — spoke to Rogan for nearly three hours in 2020. He mostly discussed his run for president in the 2021 US election. “It was something that God put in my heart back in 2015,” he said. “A few days before the MTV Awards, it hit me in the shower. When I first thought of it, I just started laughing to myself and all this joy came over my body, through my soul. I felt that energy and spirit.”
West also discussed his pro-life abortion views, his bipolar diagnosis and his disinterest in music. “I was tired of serving the music industry, tired of serving filling up stadiums,” he said.
Mike Tyson
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson has featured in three episodes — 2019, 2020 and 2022. In his first appearance, the boxer said he’d stopped exercising because it “reactivates my ego”, telling Rogan boxing was in his past: “In order to arrive to that next chapter in life, you have to forget the chapter that came before you and focus on the chapter ahead of you.”
However a year and a half later, Tyson switched gears and promoted his then-upcoming fight with Roy Jones Jr. In 2022, he discussed being challenged by YouTuber Jake Paul, who Tyson is set to face in the ring in November 2024.
Quentin Tarantino
The mastermind behind Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood told Rogan in 2021 about how he started off working in a video store for the minimum wage to funding his feature-length debut, the cult classic Reservoir Dogs, and his views on the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, with whom he worked extensively. “It’s sad,” he said. “He wasn’t just this guy who financed my movies, he was kind of like a father figure... He was involved in my professional life for a long, long time.”
