In a new episode of his 'The Joe Rogan Experience' podcast, which features MSNBC contributor Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjet, the UFC commentator discusses a 2019 tweet from Rep. Ilhan Omar.
- Feb 8, 2023
AceShowbiz - Joe Rogan landed in hot water after promoting anti-Semitic tropes on his popular Spotify podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience". In a new episode of his podcast, which featured MSNBC contributor Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjet, Joe referenced a tweet from Rep. Ilhan Omar.
In the 2019 tweet, Omar claimed that Israel's defenders in the U.S. were motivated by money. "It's all about the Benjamins baby."
Weighing on the matter, Rogan said, "She's talking about money. That's not an anti-Semitic statement, I don't think that is. It's about, Benjamins are money." He continued, "You know, the idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous. That's like saying Italians aren't into pizza. It's f**king stupid."
Twitter users quickly called out the UFC commentator. "Disturbing that at a time of rising anti-Jewish violence, when growing numbers of Americans believe in antisemitic conspiracy theories, @joerogan would use his immense platform to spew antisemitic tropes about Jews and money," Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote.
He continued, "For centuries, people have used these longstanding tropes to spread vicious lies about the Jewish people. 'Comedian' or not, Rogan's comments are no joke."
Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and author David Baddiel also blasted Rogan. "It's despicable language like this that leads to attacks and threats against Jewish people," Gottheimer said. "@JoeRogan has a massive platform and it's infuriating to watch him and @krystalball promote blatant, dangerous antisemitic tropes, including those masquerading as anti-Israel sentiments."
"I actually want to stop banging the Jews Don't Count drum at some point but hard to do when a racist myth about Jews is just...said, breezily, on one of the biggest podcasts in the world and no-one gives a f**k," Baddiel wrote.
He continued, "For the hard of understanding, "Jews are into money" is not like "Italians are into pizza". Because unless my history lessons really missed something out, no-one has exterminated a large section of the entire Italian community because of their love for pepperoni."
