Joe Rogan agrees with guest's rant comparing trans people to QAnon conspiracy theorists
Joe Rogan: “You’re not experiencing real adversity or, you know, real discrimination, so you create discrimination against yourself”
Written by Alex Paterson
Published
On the August 12 edition of Spotify’s The Joe Rogan Experience, comedian Andrew Schulz said an anti-trans slur while asserting, “QAnon is just like conservative t-----s. That’s really all they are.” Host Joe Rogan agreed with Schulz’s hateful rhetoric, claimed that being nonbinary is “very, very self-indulgent,” and said that trans people are “not experiencing real adversity or, you know, real discrimination, so you create discrimination against yourself.”
In reality, trans people face rampant discrimination in employment, housing, and health care, which in turn contributes to the community’s already high risks of suicide and violence.
Rogan has frequently used his platform to spread conspiracy theories, espouse COVID-19 misinformation, and promote smears against trans people. His show is broadcast exclusively on Spotify and is the most popular podcast on the platform. As The Washington Post has noted, “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, Rogan reaches nearly four times as many people as prime-time cable hosts such as Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC.”
During the podcast’s recent episode, Rogan denigrated and misgendered singer Demi Lovato for coming out as nonbinary. Schulz also attacked nonbinary people, saying, “Are you doing this because you actually feel nonbinary or you’re doing this because its the most convenient way to get woke points?” (In accordance with the Trans Journalists Association style guide, Media Matters has replaced Demi Lovato’s incorrect pronouns in the transcript below.)
Citation From the August 12, 2021, edition of Spotify's The Joe Rogan Experience
ANDREW SCHULZ (COMEDIAN): I see a lot of these celebs right now that like come out as nonbinary, I think is the term. I might be getting this wrong.
JOE ROGAN (HOST): Demi Lovato did that and they wrote an article it was hilarious. It was after [they] was on my podcast all of a sudden [they] is a they. And it’s like -- and [they] said in the article sometimes they misgender themselves. Again, go to Libs of TikTok, that page that I showed you on Twitter. It’s the best. It’s like the most nonsensical, fucking cuckoo talk.
SCHULZ: But the nonbinary shit, my boy Mark was saying, he was like, “It’s the least investment to be different.”
ROGAN: Right.
SCHULZ: It’s the least investment to get, like, woke points. Because non -- at least back in the day when you came out as gay, like you had to suck some dicks, man, or you had to fuck guys or something like that.
ROGAN: You had to prove it.
SCHULZ: You had to do something. Nonbinary is just like, “Hey, guys, I'm part of the community so you can’t say anything bad about me, but I will do absolutely nothing.”
ROGAN: Right. Good call.
SCHULZ: And guess what, you don’t call me “she,” you know my name. I’m fucking famous. It’s the least amount of work to get all the victim points. Like you just say, “I’m nonbinary.” And what does it mean, you don't change your life at all? I don’t know if my gender is male or female. Sometimes I like watching baseball, you know, sometimes I like fingering myself. Whatever it is.
ROGAN: And their gender changes constantly.
SCHULZ: Constantly. But there is no investment. So I’m just looking at this shit and I’m just like, yo, are you doing this because you actually feel nonbinary or are you doing this because its the most convenient way to get some woke points?
ROGAN: That's it. It's also very, very self-indulgent. Very self-indulgent. You're requiring massive amounts of attention.
SCHULZ: The whole world has to change the way that they refer to you, and you have to change nothing.
…
ROGAN: Look, it’s clearly a thing. Like, transgender people -- it’s clearly a real thing. And anybody that say it's not -- it’s like it’s existed throughout history, there’s always been people like that. But what Douglas Murray I think was saying was that some of them aren't really that. They are just latching on to this need to get attention, or to be special, or to stand out --
SCHULZ: Community, too.
ROGAN: And to be a victim in a world where there is not that many victims anymore. You’re not experiencing real adversity or, you know, real discrimination, so you create discrimination against yourself.
SCHULZ: And we will believe some things that aren't there. We are capable of doing that.
ROGAN: For sure.
SCHULZ: QAnon.
ROGAN: Psychics.
SCHULZ: Psychics, yeah. QAnon is just like conservative t-----s. Like that’s really all they are. It's just like -- it’s OK, I'll believe it. That’s fine.
[Rogan laughs]
ROGAN: Yeah.
SCHULZ: I don’t know
ROGAN: It's wild.