Joe Rogan attends the UFC 277 ceremonial weigh-in at American Airlines Center. (Carmen Mandato/Getty)
Professional devil’s advocate Joe Rogan has said that even he thinks Andrew Tate went too far with his comments on women.
The UFC colour commentator and podcast host said that he thought former kickboxer Tate “f**ked up with the misogyny stuff” during a 3 September episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.
Tate was removed from several social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, for his incredibly misogynistic and offensive content towards marginalised groups.
Speaking to guests Eddie Bravo, Brendan Schaub, and Bryan Callen, he said: “If he didn’t do that, if he just did the pro-male stuff and, you know, the pro accountability and pro discipline stuff… That’s a good lesson for people to learn. The problem is the other s**t.”
Rogan also explained during the segment that, despite Tate’s numerous misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ+ comments, he still respected his work ethic, saying: “There’s this video where he goes, ‘the way I think in the morning about how I feel has no bearing on what I do,’ he goes, ‘I do everything I’m supposed to do.’
“‘I get up and if I don’t feel good I still work out, I still go to work,’ he goes, ‘because that’s how you get ahead in this life. If you just concentrate entirely on your feelings, you’re never going to f**king get anywhere.’”
The group then commented on clips that were published by the Daily Star of Tate hitting two women in what Tate claimed was “consensual roleplay.”
“We watched it and I was like, ‘jesus christ, what is he doing?’” Schaub said during the segment. “We didn’t have context, so we were like ‘that ain’t good, yeah he’s f**ked,’ but then once you realise she came out and said, ‘no that’s what we’re into,’ we were like, fair enough.”
Tate’s ex-girlfriend later opened up about the clip shortly after it was published in a video saying: “I just wanted to let you know that this has all been a huge misunderstanding. That’s what we used to do.”
The clips garnered such criticism behind them that it resulted in Tate’s expulsion from the Big Brother house in 2016, where he first got his taste of fame.
But, as Rogan said during the segment: “That’s the thing about trying to be controversial and trying to get a lot of eyes on you,” to which guest Schaub replied: “Sometimes it can be too much.”
In a similar display, the podcaster called out Jordan Peterson for being “offended” that he couldn’t deadname Elliot Page in a 19 July podcast segment after Peterson was removed from Twitter for saying that “[Elliot Page] just had [his] breasts removed by a criminal physician.”
“My friend [standup comedian] Brian Simpson had a very good thing to say about that,” Rogan said. “He was like: ‘I come to you for like heavy-duty intellectual sh*t.’ He goes, ‘not for this.’
“Like this is not a thing to be getting offended about.”
Despite this, Joe Rogan doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to discussing trans people, including misgendering Caitlyn Jenner multiple times, berating trans swimmer Lia Thomas, and claiming that “wokeness” would silence straight white men.