California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday night that he no longer has any interest in appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
On the debut episode of CNN’s “The Story Is With Elex Michaelson,” Newsom shared that he has moved on from any hopes he may have had about ever appearing on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “For years and years, he’s been attacking me and it’s one way and he won’t have me on,” he explained. “He’s consistently not having me on. By the way, I’m moving on. I have no interest.”
“Joe Rogan’s the Facebook of podcasting,” Newsom added, prompting Michaelson to remark that Rogan still has a “pretty big audience.” “With all due respect, if he has a big audience but he doesn’t have big enough confidence — I didn’t go there — to have me on…” Newsom said, to which Michaelson further noted that the politician has called Rogan a chicken on social media in the past.
In early October, Rogan criticized Newsom on one of his episodes, calling his fellow podcaster a “good bulls—t artist” and mocking his rumored presidential aspirations. “You can’t ruin a city and then go on to ruin a state and say, ‘Guys, that was just practice. Once I get in as president, I’m gonna fix it all,’” Rogan said of Newsom’s work as both the former Mayor of San Francisco and current Governor of California.
Newsom previously responded to a clip of Rogan’s criticism, writing at the time that the podcaster was “too [chicken emoji] to have me on his show and expose his listeners to the truth.” Newsom went on to list a number of positive, current statistics about California, concluding: “I could continue… invite me on any time.”
Now, it seems Newsom has rescinded that latter comment. “Here’s the thing. These guys, they all have something in common. It’s one way,” Newsom said of Rogan. “They attack, they belittle, they demean, they take things out of context. But this is a serious thing, and so often we just sit back and go, ‘Oh, God, I really would love to go on. Oh, if Kamala Harris just went on Joe Rogan, she would have won.’ It’s so much deeper than that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Newsom again teased the idea of running for president in 2028 — considering that year’s election may not be fair if Trump ends up, somehow, running for a third term despite the 22nd Amendment.
