Joe Rogan Says RFK Jr. Support Was Not an Endorsement

After facing backlash from supporters of Donald Trump‘s Make America Great Again movement, Joe Rogan is walking back reports that he endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when he expressed his support for the third-party presidential candidate on his podcast Thursday.

The influential podcaster explained on Thursday’s Joe Rogan Experience that he finds both the Democrat and Republican parties problematic and sees them as more concerned with spin than speaking the truth: “That’s just what they do. That’s politics. They do it on the left, they do it on the right,” Rogan told his audience. “They gaslight you, they manipulate you, they promote narratives, and the only one who is not doing that is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

He added of Kennedy, “He’s the only one that makes sense to me. He’s the only one — he doesn’t attack people, he attacks actions and ideas, but he’s much more reasonable and intelligent. I mean, the guy was an environmental lawyer and he cleaned up the East River. He’s a legitimate guy.”

After Rogan’s remarks were viewed as an endorsement, though, the comedian on Friday said his comments were mischaracterized.

“For the record, this isn’t an endorsement,” Rogan wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “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. 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.”

Earlier Rogan’s apparent Kennedy endorsement sparked backlash and disappointment from Trump supporters, who took to social media to slam Rogan for his pick and question the host’s intelligence.

“Joe Rogan will go down as a guy who had a real opportunity to make a meaningful impact and squandered it. Sad,” X user Johnny MAGA wrote, then referred to the dead bear story revealed by Kennedy in a video posted online this week. “‘He’s much more reasonable and intelligent.” He drove all around the state of New York with a rotting bear cub in his car and dumped it in Central Park as a ‘prank’ At 60 years old…”

Within hours, a #BoycottJoeRogan hashtag appeared on X as anger and frustration with the podcaster’s support of Kennedy spread. 

“What a scumbag, X user @RipzRyan posted, “Wonder if he’s being paid off. Did the deep state get to him? HEY ROGAN👇👇👇,” with an image reading “Trump was right about everything.” 

What a scumbag. Wonder if hes being paid off. Did the deepstate get to him?

HEY ROGAN👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/cn3HEnqkqn

— RyanRipz The Left 🇺🇸 (@RipzRyan) August 9, 2024

Trump got in on the Rogan-bashing on Friday, attempting to get ultimate fighting fans to turn on the host in person by posting on his Truth Social platform, “It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring. MAGA2024.” In addition to hosting his podcast, Rogan has a gig commentating for Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts promotion company; Trump has close ties to the organization, being a friend of its president, Dana White. Rogan is not scheduled to appear at the next UFC event, set to take place on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia, according to MMA Fighting, which reports that his next commentating appearance will be in September.

The Joe Rogan Experience — which has been Spotify’s top podcast of the year for the past four years — in February inked a new multiyear deal in which his podcast will no longer be exclusively distributed by the platform.

Kennedy, the scion of one of America’s most prominent political dynasties, has been shunned by other members of his family for his radical beliefs around public health and repeating conspiracy theories, including disproven ideas around vaccines and the origins of the COVID-19 virus; Kennedy has said that he holds the false belief that the MMR vaccine given to infants can lead to autism in children; in 2023, he stated that the COVID-19 virus was engineered as a “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people.”

The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of national polls shows Kennedy has slipped to under 4 percent of voter support in polls that pit him against Republican presidential candidate Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate. The campaign recently managed to get Kennedy’s name on the ballot in Texas and, as of Friday, the independent has access to 174 electoral votes confirmed and an additional 329 claimed, according to The Hill/Decision Desk’s tracker. 

Kennedy’s platform includes reworking social safety net programs, sealing the southern border while expanding legal immigration, eliminating fossil-fuel subsidies and taking an anti-interventionist stance on wars in Ukraine, Gaza and China. 

Neither Rogan nor the Kennedy campaign have responded to The Hollywood Reporter‘s request for comment.