Sounds Like A Cult - The Cult of Joe Rogan

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

This week, Amanda, Reese, and Chelsea are joined by writer and comedian Akilah Hughes (@akilahh) to unpack The Cult of Joe Rogan, the podcast empire that’s convinced millions it’s the last bastion of free thought while quietly shaping how they see science, politics, masculinity, and truth itself. From “I’m just asking questions” rhetoric to the anti-establishment cosplay, we dig into how Rogan became less of a host and more of a cult leader. Is this curiosity culture… or a pipeline dressed up as open mindedness? Grab your protein powder and your critical thinking skills. We’re talking about influence, vibes, and why this very chill podcast sounds a lot like a cult. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.  Come see Sounds Like A Cult LIVE at The Bell House in New York on April 21st! Tickets at amandamontell.com/events Thank you to our sponsors! Get 20% off your first order with code CULT at https://LIQUIDIV.COM Visit https://functionhealth.com/CULT and use gift code CULT25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Head to https://acorns.com/CULT or download the Acorns app to get started. To learn more about how to support Minnesota’s immigrant communities, check out this MSP Mag article, which shares several ways to offer help or find support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Searchlight Pictures presents in the blink of an eye on Hulu on Disney Plus, a sweeping science fiction drama spanning the stone age, the present day, and the distant future, about the essence of what it means to be human, regardless of our place in history. The film is directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton and stars Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Dave Diggs. Stream in the blink of an eye, February 27, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Sign up at Disneyplus.com. The views expressed on this episode, as with all episodes of Sounds Like a Cult, are solely host opinions and quoted allegations. The content here should not be taken as indisputable fact.

This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. The cult-like nature of Joe Rogan and his fans really comes down to, like, fandom. So, like, if you're isolated, say you're an Uber driver and you're alone all day, that's your best friend. And so you want to believe that your best friend knows what he's talking about. He has your best interest at heart. And so I think when you look at cults historically in the United States, it is all about one personality and defending it at all costs and believing beyond belief that they have some answer

that makes them the correct person to deliver a message. And his fans really unfortunately believe that. This is Sounds Like a Cult, a show about the modern day cults we all follow. I'm Amanda Montel, author of books including cultish, and the Age of Magical Overthinking. I'm Reese Oliver, sounds like a cult's resident rhetoric scholar. And I'm Chelsea Charles, an unscripted TV producer and a lifelong student of pop culture sociology. Every week on the show, we discuss a different group or guru that puts the cult in culture,

from Etsy witches to IKEA to try and answer the big question. This group sounds like a cult, but is it really? And if so, which of our cult categories does it fall into? Is it a live your life, watch your back, or a get the fuck out? This is the question. Because cultish behavior falls on a spectrum, and not all cults are built the same. You got your duolingo streakers and your liboooo booboo collectors, and as we've determined, those are more or less relatively harmless groups to follow.

But other subcultures have taken the anxieties of our time and exploited them for their own game, spreading misinformation like biblical gospel, through the power of social media, like anti-vaxxers, incels, and this week's topic. The cult of Joe Rogan. Did you see that guy accidentally hit that moose with his car? No. Holy shit, Jamie. We're finally here. We've reached it.

We've reached whateverth layer of hell. This fanatical male-dominated flock of podcast devotees saw its beginnings in the early 2000s, but in the last few years has grown faster than the list of COVID variants they might refuse to vaccinate against. So true. So we're going to get into it. Where are you both at with respect to today's recording, mind, body, and spirit? I am full of rage today. And honestly, I'm just so happy that this episode is about roasting someone who I just feel like aligns with some of the most disgusting people and viewpoints. We're Joan of Arkin. Yeah. Is what I'm hearing. Absolutely. I too am a bit gleeful to. have an outlet to yap about this because I feel like a lot of Joe Rogan fans can be kind of brick wallish

when you try to argue with them or when you try to suggest why their beloved news source might not be all they're cracked up to be. It can be quite impossible. So I'm excited today to get to speak with reckless abandon. Totally. What a gift. I mean, I avoid talking about Joe Rogan, obviously in my everyday life. So this feels like a hallowed space to engage with it. And then importantly, to step away. I'll lead with this. The worst men I've ever known have either listened to Joe Rogan or cautioned me against critiquing him on this very podcast, attempting to instill the wrath of his flock in my bones, warning that they would docks our reviews. I'm just like, fucking go for it, dude. Like, I don't care. At this point, we shall not be silenced. So we have a beautiful

scrutinous episode for you today with our own cult analysis and then with the delightful presence of a very special guest. So be sure to stick around. I hope this feels cathartic. I hope this feels illuminating. Send this to the worst man you've ever met, please. Okay. So it wouldn't be a sounds like a cult analysis if we didn't. First, give you a little history. Who exactly is the cult leader? that is Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan is an American podcaster, comedian, media personality, and it's public... I love your tone. I'm dying.

I'm just disgusted. Good, because, you know what, we can read off his titles and we can do that neutrally, but why would we? No, I'm not neutral. There's actually nothing neutral about me, so... That's so true. Nor is neutrality a virtue, as some Joe Rogan fans should learn. So Joe Rogan's public career began in the 2000s as the host of Fear Factor and UFC Color Commentator.

But his most well-known project, the Joe Rogan experience started in 2009, which I actually didn't realize it was in 2009. I thought it was more recent. No, he's been out here bullshitting, literally bullshitting, because only in America can someone go from giddily, encouraging, reality show contestants to ingest bull testicles. I was literally about to say a thousand-year-old bull testicles. A thousand-year-old bull testicles. Like blended up rats. To like influencing American politics in a truly material way.

Yep. What is going on? Only in the country where the guy from Humalone becomes president. Could that be true? Literally, like, what a circus. We're in a circus. Farse of a country. Yep.

By 2015, the show had become one of the most popular podcasts in the world. In 2020, Rogan signed an exclusive contract with Spotify for a reported $200 million, million. I feel like the Joe Rogan experience is one of those projects that gets a lot of merit by virtue of just being really old and like not actually because it's good. It's just been here for a long time. So people give it a lot of credit as some kind of figure of authority. I also think it's interesting reading the full name of the podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, because, I kind of forgot it was called that due to the fact that people just refer to it as Joe Rogan. Like he's a late night host.

Yeah. Or like he's a cult leader. We forget that the people's temple was called the people's temple because it's just referred to as Jones Town. That's how you know that Joe Rogan has reached cult leader status, or that's one clue, that his name is metonymous with his media platform, his ideology, and we'll get into this later. He is a cult leader of his own making and he is irreversibly attached to what Joe Rogan the ideology represents. Kind of such a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like he's just there because he's there and you're just not really supposed to question it. But if you do question it, you realize there's no real reason for him to be a public figure.

He just kind of is because he says he is and runs with it and has been doing that for so long. The ultimate spin doctor. The ultimate spin doctor. And the way that he's spin doctors is most often by doing absolutely no spinning at all. He is just kind of very neutral and goes with the whims of whomever is on his show at the current moment. I imagine the Joe Rogan experience is like a tilt whirl that hasn't started yet. And it's just like a bunch of terrible men strapped into those crazy little seats on the tilt world like talking at each other being like, when's this thing going to start? Just like nausea preparation.

So the Joe Rogan experience is known. for cultivating powerful, political, and cultural influence through like edge lordy, purposefully controversial topics and guests, and as I mentioned, very little structure to the conversation or standards that these guests are held to. Rogan's repertoire of scandal himself is very robust. He has been accused of racism, sexism, transphobia, all the things in the form of comments on his podcast, usually. And while Rogan tends to deny all accusations of wrongdoing, in February 22, Spotify removed

over 50 episodes of the podcast for their insensitivities. Censorship is probably what he would say. For sure. And speaking of the objective structurelessness and Tom Fulery of his interviews, I've interviewed psychologists and scholars of parisalial relationships in the past who have an interesting take on the relationship between podcasters and their listeners and how intimate that is. And I think about this a lot, as the three of us probably do, as podcasters ourselves. But when it comes to like a confidently speaking, I'm rolling my eyes, but charismatic figure on the mic,

Joe Rogan being the most populous mainstream lowest common denominator type dude, but like on another point along the political spectrum, like Sam Harris is also one of these guys. When they're in your ear for just hours on end. And let me specifically say, when Joe. Rogan is on the air meandering for hours on end as his bro-y flock is like making high-protein breakfast for themselves or whatever the fuck men do. It just creates this dependence, this familiarity, like he's with you in your home. It doesn't even matter what he's saying. And I remember my terrible ex-boyfriend who listened to him would say things like, oh, he's just a great interviewer.

But that was just like this buzzphrase that these dudes were conditioned to repeat as a justification for their engagement with this dude who has nothing to offer, really. It's like, no, he just is an interviewer who gets a variety of guests because he, again, has no, like, moral positioning of his own. And that's pretty much it. I've heard people say that, like, I mean, this is an old meme, but Joe Rogan is, like, goop for men. It's, like, how people... I don't think it's well thought out enough for that. No, honestly, like, I think Kenneth Paltrow is actually way more of a girl boss than Joe Rogan. I would describe him as a girl boss. He's a male girl boss. But yeah, I think Goop for Men is too flattering for Joe Rogan. I think Gwyneth Paltrow is so much

more like diversified in her income streams. She's an Oscar winning actress. And Joe Rogan is literally, yeah, he's just like a still guy on a tilt world that people for some reason tune into. He's just this court jester sniveling in the corner and everyone's like, yeah, listen to him. He's been in this town longer than any of us and he refuses to leave that spot. So clearly he must know a lot. And it's like, why are we listening to this guy? Nobody has to be giving this guy money. Wait, that's really interesting that you call him a court jester because I'm throwing a medieval theme birthday party. I wish the two of you could come where I'm assigning all of my friends medieval role. It's really cringe, but free. And I assigned a friend to be a jester. And I was

looking up what the history of jester is. And there's a fascinating legacy that goes back thousands of years. But what I didn't realize is that during really, really controlled periods, like the medieval era, you know, feudalism, court jesterers were like the, the, only people who were granted this permission to like roast the king, to entertain the king with filterlessness or crude jokes that other people would be like beheaded for making. And that kind of feels like exactly Joe Rogan. He has this immunity because people think he's funny. Question mark.

I'm genuinely asking. Like that's a question. Anna Validwin. But might I add at the end of the day, the jester was actually really just the king's bitch and could be put to death like anyone else anytime if he went too far. So I think the analogy is actually kind of perfect. Yeah, but anyhow, clearly Joe Rogan's podcast is very polarizing. Not everybody feels the same way about it, but this polarization really only makes his loyalist much more annoying, devoted, whatever you want to call it. And the Joe Rogan experience

continues to be the most listened to podcast on Spotify. We're coming for you though. No, we're not. And that's the thing. No, we're not. I don't want to be the most. to a podcast. We all have a life. I do if it means Do Rogan won't be. Right. Okay. Someone's got to dethrone him. But I think it's a green flag that I don't really want it to be us. Oh no. It's good that it's good that it should be us. It should be someone. I mean, remember on our chat, GPD episode when Amanda Silberling quoted that funny tweet that said the Democrats need a psychopath and Gavin Newsom could be that psychopath. Yeah. I don't want to be that psychopath. Yeah. No. Oh, no. I think it. Replace him with like good hang. Totally. Heavy is the head.

that has to be the psychopath to replace a psychopath. So no. Oh my God. Where's the podcast editing headphones? Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Joe Rogan Experience has over 11 million listeners per episode.

Even the logo has really cultish vibes. I don't know if you've ever had the displeasure of looking at it, but it's this really awful caricature of Joe Rogan with this third eye in the middle of his forehead. It's giving AI generated. It's obviously not because the show's been around since 2009. It does look like an NFT. And if you looked like an NFT, and if you looked like an

NFT before NFTs. It's not a flex. No. It looks like he's very much trying to look like a cult leader, though. Like the lightning bolts on the side of the logo, the red and black color scheme, the third eye. The third eye. No, I think he's trying to get in front of it in like a funny, edge lordy, ironic way. I mean, your third eye, what? It represents like wisdom, intuition. Yeah. Yeah, all knowing consciousness. I think he was like, well, if I call myself this, then you can't call. me that in a negative way. Yeah, I think when you know that you can't and shouldn't take yourself seriously, like, the LogoForth podcast couldn't be like a serious photo of him because he's not a person with any kind of merit that that picture would hold any kind of impact with you looking at it. So his route is to do something like goofy and sticky-outy and yeah. I like stilish. Okay, question for the group. What does everybody think the cultiest thing about Joe Rogan is? I think that the cultiest thing about Joe Rogan is the role that he played as one of the like OG disciples, because now I'm hearing 2009 and I didn't know that it was that far back.

He played a role as one of the OG disciples of the online in-cell Manosphere adjacent propaganda. I'm not saying this as a flex, but I really do not engage with this sector of the internet. Obviously, I don't subscribe to any of his whatever he has going on, but I also just do not see a lot of Joe Rogan shit on my timeline because I just block, whatever, goodbye. But the way that he engaged with the Me Too movement, I remember distinctly, and it was Akrid. He used his platform to bring on all these people who were like anti-feminist, anti-woman, whatever. And they just kept pushing these ideas that the men in these situations were the real victims. And to me, to sit up there and use your platform to uplift these fucking... Infuriates me.

It's infuriating. And it's coldsy. A hundred percent. To paint you as like a vessel of ultimate privilege as actually the victim is seriously Kithrinari energy. Absolutely. What do you think, Reese? I do think the cultiest thing is just that he presents himself as this like very neutral figure

under this guise of professionalism. And this is very similar to Mr. Beast. But it just is really such a gateway for them to platform disgusting people and stand behind their words without taking any responsibility for those things themselves. I think he gets away Scott free looking professional and looking like just he's doing his job as an interview host. But no, you chose to put that person on your show. You chose to let them say what they said, make them sound reasonable, edit it the way

that you did. All of that was very intentional, and I think that's culty. Yeah, his hypocrisy is definitely so, so very culty. I also think his populism is he presents himself as just like you, my bro, but a little more famous and richer and just smoking weed with Elon Musk. Yeah, you know, you're smoking weed in your basement right now, but you could be smoking weed with tech overlord one day, too. I'm just like you, but better, brave or smarter, better listener. And I think that makes him very parasocially influential. So, ew. I think it's time, though,

to get into some deeper cult analysis to understand why Joe Rogan isn't just fucking icky, but in fact, something closer to a nefarious cult leader. In order to do that, I do want to expand on this notion of populism a little more because I really do think he exemplifies the ultimate

21st century manipulative every man. In my opinion, it does really, makes sense that one of the most listened to voices in politics would be a reality star turned mediocre podcaster. Essentially, the Joe Rogan brand is built on interviewing guests from various points along the political, social, and intellectual spectrums. And as Reese mentioned, because of this, to Rogan's followers, he is this, like, brilliant, bold, kind of iconoclastic podcast profit, if you will. However, to his critics, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he, He's more of just like this negligent, careless buffoon who's platforming conspiracy theorists

and spreading misinformation. So like many a cult leader from history, Rogan paints himself as just a regular guy asking regular questions. I think that's literally a verbatim quote of how he's characterized himself. And this positioning can be a lot more sinister than it might appear because while he's hosted trusted scientists and left-leading politician Bernie Sanders, he's also platformed, say, far-right neo-Nazi-affiliated conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and pseudoscientist Cook Graham Hancock. Additionally, in his 2024 Netflix comedy special, Burn the Boats,

he jokingly supported multiple conspiracy theories such as the moon landing being fake and PizzaGate being real. I mean, he's a troll and an opportunist and kind of a dunce, but has so much influence anyway. Politically speaking, back in 2019, Joe Rogan said he would probably vote for Bernie Sanders. And in 2022, during an interview, he claimed not to be a Trump supporter and said he wouldn't have him on his show because that would be a form of endorsement. However, famously, in 2024, Rogan did a total 180 by endorsing Trump and had him on his podcast at a critical stage during that presidential race. But then again, recently, he's like gone back. He's condemned Trump. He's apparently not a fan of the brutal militarization. Too little too late, I think.

He's creating this political and intellectual whiplash is the point. And all of that is. is I think kind of this rage bait that keeps people addicted to him and continuing to talk about him. Oh, yeah. Like being a second term converter to Trump supporting is all I need to hear to know that you flock to where the most volatile public opinion is. And that's just where you hang out and you don't need anything else. And I don't think people like that are good people. No.

I don't know if you all remember, but the backlash he got from bringing Trump on, He said that he asked Kamala to come and she turned it down. And he basically was saying, like, bad on her for not wanting to diversify her outreach. I remember it being this whole, like, he is now used as a tool for the right to be, well, she's not reasonable and level-headed and doesn't care about reaching so much of the population because she didn't want to go on this totally non-credible hacks podcast that is probably going to edit her to look bad, who has already endorsed her opponent. Like, why would she want to go on Rogan?

For sure. I'm just like, okay, maybe he shouldn't have established himself as a raging misogynist. I don't trust him with women. Right. Like, he doesn't respect women. That's point blank true. We've said on this podcast so many times that cult leaders pursue the type of power that they think they can achieve.

So, say, the leader of the MLM Lou LaRoe, the notorious leggings empire, she was like this blonde white Pasadena mom who was like Chugi and was just so the person we wanted to run a leggings empire. Joe Rogan's brand is, I'm trying to say this nicely, dofaces from hell. Yeah. Or? Oh my God. I've been using word orc way more. Yes. But that really works for him. He's going to lean into that energy because that fortifies his platform. It's so tough because was Kamala Harris really going to convert anyone who listens to his podcast? Like, probably not. They're in a cult. Right. Absolutely not. No, there was no reason for her to go on Joe Rogan. And that would have

been a waste of her very limited resources during that time. But because Joe Rogan is like so worshipped by the mainstream, they wanted her on there. And they want everything through his little lens because he's their channel of acceptable news. And I think that's crusty and sad. Very Christy. But because Joe Rogan is a loud white man, he is a conspiracy theorist that is somehow still worshipped by the mainstream. And I don't say conspiracy theorists lightly. I'm talking like COVID-19 misinformation, all kinds of anti-vax rhetoric, AIDS denialism that is just being churned out with all of these interviews of very high-profile people making all of it look equally legitimate. In April 2021, Joe Rogan said that young healthy people don't need the COVID-19 vaccines. He later

clarified that he wasn't an antivax person, but later said he continued to believe that the young and healthy don't need them. In September 2021, Rogan tested positive for COVID-19 and publicly announced that he had started a treatment with monoclonal antibodies in ivermectin. Yeah, that's that antiparacetic drug used to deworm livestock. That's the horse medication. Oh, so that sounds right for him then, actually. Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely correct. It's orc juice. Orc juice, definitely correct. And someone for whom that is the correct kind of medication is definitely someone whom I want to be getting all of my public news from. Exactly.

So like tons of health experts, including the FDA, urged the public to not do this and to stop using hyvermectin to come back COVID-19 because tons of people were trying to self-medicate with hyvermectin. And they had to be hospitalized. So in December of that same year, Rogan hosted Robert W. Malone, a conspiracy theorist and a former doctor who was suspended for spreading, COVID-19 misinformation. So, I mean, misinformation, if it's coming from a doctor, I'm tempted to call it disinformation. I feel like at that point it's intentional. Hot take. Either way, Rogan encourages the mistrust of real experts, which can have deadly consequences and is very much in the cult leader playbook. So digging a little bit more into that unchecked power and the disinformation, as Reese puts it, in January 2022, 270 sciences.

and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify to express their concern over the quote propagation of false and societally harmful assertions made on Rogan's podcast. The letter condemned Rogan for continuously spreading misinformation and false claims on his podcast and citing paranoia about doctors and less than ideal situation amid a deadly pandemic. Rogan and Spotify also received backlash from musicians, artists and other podcasters, including Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell, who removed their entire catalogs from Spotify. Yeah, I mean, Spotify is a cult too. Thank you for supporting us.

Love you. Yeah, not loving all of the ways in which Spotify conducts themselves. And I remember there being a lot of criticism levied at smaller podcasts for remaining on Spotify. But you kind of had to be like Joni Mitchell level famous and settled to remove your work from Spotify. Otherwise, you don't really have any good choices if you want to be a music artist or a podcaster other than to like implicitly remain aligned with this horrible man. Well, after the open letter was written, nothing really came of it. Rogan basically just said, I'm not trying to promote misinformation. I've never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to

people and have interesting conversations. Interesting is a stretch. Okay. However, he's also said that even if he did spread COVID misinformation, that wouldn't actually bother him, as he is nothing but a, quote, professional shit talker. If that weren't enough, in February 2024, Rogan hosted this guy, Brett Weinstein, a known HIV AIDS denier who promotes the debunked belief that the HIV virus doesn't cause AIDS. In this episode, Rogan and Weinstein claimed that party drugs, such as Popper's, are an important factor for AIDS rather than HIV. Huh?

Yeah. He's also dipped his toes in anti-climate change conversations by misinterpreting a global temperature chart and claim that global temperatures are actually cooling, not rising. Okay, so I'm going to get on my soapbox for just a second. Okay, specifically talking about HIV and AIDS. What infuriates me about Joe Rogan is his choice to continuously amplify the voices of these quacks with platforms large enough to cause harm. I've talked about this on the pod before at Mausam,

but my mother works in public health, specifically in HIV-AIDS research. She's been doing it for over, I would say, 25 years, and she just makes sure that people who are living with HIV and AIDS receive adequate healthcare, education, and access to life-saving treatment because of that work and the work of so many countless scientists and healthcare professionals. We were genuinely on track to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030.

And that progress was obviously destabilized with the Trump administration and with all them cutting HIV prevention funds and all the things. When he gives airtime to HIV denialism, it is not only irresponsible, but it undermines decades of trust in science and all the good things. So I don't know. It's frustrating. It's sick. And it's such an unbelievably weird hill to die on or like position to take. I'm just like, why? Why? The only reason I can think of is that he is just so willing to stir as much chaos as he can across so many different dimensions so that he ends up being the only figure that people look to. And the hypocrisy that we mentioned earlier where he's like back and forth

between, oh, I'm just a professional shit talker. But listen to me for your science and political information, I can only imagine the cognitive distance he must feel. I think he honestly must be like pretty insecure. Yeah. Yeah. I think it comes from like a desire to look like you are questioning the world around you and having these deep conversations and like examining things for what they are without dismantling or actually examining any of the systems that have like unjustly put you in power or that keep you comfortable in ways that maybe you shouldn't be or that by dismantling them hold you to a standard of like being good at your job yeah no he doesn't want to actually investigate anything okay so if you are like not so familiar with joe rogan you might be like

okay, I get that this guy has a lot of influence, but I don't get exactly what he's saying besides like irresponsible podcast or things that is exactly so nasty. Here's where we're going to get into it. He's a total bigot babes. So Joe Rogan's racist and otherwise harmful rhetoric ranges from heavy use of the N-word, which she has apologized for and defended. Great. To anti-Semitic comments like, quote,

the idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous. That's like saying Italians are into. pizza. It's fucking stupid. End quote. This quote is fucking outrageous. Because he is incredibly hypocritical and very like confusing and I think purposefully vague about his views on a lot of marginalized groups. For instance, in his Netflix special Burn the Boats, Joe Rogan said that he believes in trans people and that he fully supports the rights of adults to do whatever makes them happy. Believing in trans people. That's my favorite thing. They're centaurs. They're your children.

Exactly. He also claimed to not be homophobic and says that he wishes he was gay. Okay. Do you ask me more? You want to tell us about Joe? Like, okay. Like, it's like Donald Trump. If you just want to be a RuPaul Drag Race guest host in another life, you can do that. That's fine. You don't have to do all this other shit. Anywho, Joe Rogan's going to say all of this about what an inclusive ally he is. And then he's going to go and openly criticize the inclusion of transgender women in women's boards, such as US swimmer Leah Thomas and M. Fallon Fox, because there's nothing more that adult men love to get worked up about than paid recess that they could never do. The only sport that I've ever seen Joe Rogan participate in was again, refing a competition where two people are seeing who can eat 7,000 spiders the fastest. So I don't think he's really one to comment. That and running his mouth. That's what he runs.

There it is. And as someone who's a fan of running his mouth without watching what comes out of it, has also been very open about his anti-cancel culture stance. In a 2025 episode of the Joe Rogan experience, Rogan has said that the resurgence of the R-word was a triumph and one of the great cultural victories made by podcasts. Yes, another win for people with absolutely no life. Jesus Christ. I cannot stand a man with an opinion. This is the thing. Joe Rogan turns me into a raging misandrist. It's like every time he talks, I like, Shut the fuck up.

Please. No, like reparations is Joe Rogan not talking and being burned. The guillotine. So I think where the cult leader allegations really start to make sense is that Joe Rogan is an elitist. Posing is a guy's guy. Although he claims to be just a regular dude who's just asking questions, let's face the facts. He's now the host of a multimillion dollar podcast that has cozy up to many members of the elite on his show, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump,

he might present himself as a contrarian who's against the establishment. But whether he realizes it or not, he's been helping write the script for the establishment he's so against through his podcast. And because of this, some of his listeners have actually finally begun to question his reliability and trustworthiness, though not enough. Maybe that will change.

And have expressed skepticism about whether he's moving away from being a free thinker to a cult follower himself. Regardless, as we mentioned many times, his podcast consistently is at the top of the rankings worldwide, which reflects his sort of infallible cult leader status. Is he even, is it really even him anymore? Like, I really do feel like after he got his $200 million deal with Spotify, it was almost like the ultimate lifestyle inflation. It was like persona inflation because he got that money and that following based on a persona that who knows if it's, It's really him, you know, but he now has to commit to the bit, or else he'll lose his following. Absolutely. L loser. Okay. So, Coltis, after the break, we're going to get into more analysis with our special interviewee who's not afraid to take this cult leader to task.

This interview was conducted by me and Reese, so stick around for after the break. We're so excited to get into our interview. Here to join us is Akila Hughes, a writer, Camille. and Crooked Media Podcast hosts. Akila, welcome to Slack. Hi, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to have you.

Could you introduce yourself for our listeners? My name is Akela Hughes. I am a writer, comedian, and podcast host. I host. I host, I host, one with IHeart called Rebel Spirit and another, which comes out every Friday from Courier called How Is This Better, or we just interrogate everything that's happening in our world, from pop culture to political proposals,

and ask, is it better? Usually it isn't. I love that. That's very fitting. I feel like listeners of Slack will appreciate that kind of beat. I seem like congruent shows and that it's a lot of looking around and wondering what the fuck is going on. How did we get here? And how is it so bad?

I'm scared. Marty, I want to go home. All right. Just to kick us off, could you explain your relationship to the cult of Joe Rogan? Totally. I mean, I think like most well-adjusted people, I heard Joe Rogan for the first. time in the back of an Uber. I was visiting LA for work and I was like, why is this man talking at Link? And eventually I asked the Uber driver because it was like a 45 minute ride. I'm like,

what's he talking about? And he kind of came out of a trance and was like, I don't know. And I was like, that's what this is. This is like my case. And so, you know, that was the first time I heard him. I used to do a podcast with Crooked Media called What a Day. It's their daily news podcast. And I guess the one brag I have is that we did beat Joe Rogan for number one the day that we premiered. But that's sort of the beginning and end of my like personal relationship. Yes. Period. Period. We ended him.

He's chopped. And so we did it. He's unk and frankly chopped. Yeah, he's unk and frankly chopped. And besides that, I deal with his clips and people listening to him socially. That's about it. We've all suffered it. Oh, definitely.

Listen, it's like in the beginning, it was. interesting, I guess. And then I was like, block, block, no access. So, Akila, what do you think is the cultiest thing about Joe Rogan and his followers? I've been thinking about this question. I was anticipating it. And I think that I've come to it. So the cult-like nature of Joe Rogan and his fans really comes down to fandom, generally. So, like, in the past six months, we have had people have the delusions of a rapture that did not come. We've had people hypothesize an episode of Stranger Things. That was not made. You know, like, I think that we are in an era where people are looking to believe in something. And I think that Joe Rogan is in a way hypnotic to his fans, because these are

long episodes. We're talking about three hours, no editing. And so, like, if you're isolated, say you're an Uber driver and you're alone all day and, you know, maybe people ask for a quiet ride, but you decided to play his podcast out loud. You know, that's your best friend. And so you want to believe that your best friend knows what he's talking about. When he's asking questions, it's in good faith, that he has your best interest at heart. And that his sort of stony demeanor is this disarming factor. And it doesn't make you skeptical of him.

It somehow endears him to you. And so I think that the problem is it's like you can't really be a casual listener of Joe Rogan. You're either a person who was indoctrinated, like, years ago and, like, cannot get off the wagon. This is my best friend. Or you're just like a person who, like, hears it one time like me and you're like, wow, this guy's wrong about a lot of stuff. And those people are like, you can't talk like that about my best friend. And so I think when you look at cults historically in the United States, it is all about

one personality and defending it at all costs and believing beyond belief that, like, they have some answer or some personality trait that makes them the correct person to deliver a message. and his fans, because they're just fans, they are not his friends. He does not know them and they don't know him. Really, unfortunately, believe that. And I think the problem with it goes beyond Joe Rogan, right? One day, Joe Rogan will be no longer and someone will just fill that void. And unfortunately, we have to break these sorts of systems that allow people to be diluted enough

to think that they're best friends with a guy who rambles while he's high to whoever will listen. No, we do. He's truly such like a jarring example of the Halo effect because people just see him and they think, like, oh, he's a semi-competent interviewer, which when you look and sound like Joe Rogan and you speak with enough confidence, you'll get a pack of insecure white men to follow you around no matter what you do. So it's not like he's doing anything very groundbreaking, but people think because they identify with him that they should live their life in his footsteps. I mean, how many podcasts exist now because people who listen to Joe Rogan were like, I should do that too. It's like, no, dude. He shouldn't even be doing it. I could do it. And it's like that's the point.

He can't, buddy. And either can you. Speaking a little bit about that confidence, do you know how confident you have to be to put out episodes that are two hours long? No edits. A lot of like deep breathing, a lot of you not knowing what you're talking about, like, you're the interviewer and you're like, I'm just curious. And it's like, right, did you write any of these questions down? Did you have you thought about anything deep? Do you know who you're talking to right now? And they're like, not really. No outlines, just vibes.

Just vibes. Like I rolled out of bed. smoked. And I decided to just ask this old man with gray hair in front of me. And it's like it's Bill Gates. Literally. You could have done any homework and people are like, that's what makes him relatable. Not really.

I think most people knowing that they were going to talk to Bill Gates would at least brush their teeth. You know? I'm just going to put it out there. And yeah, I don't know if the guy interviewing Bill Gates should be relatable in the way that I am sitting on the couch at home should be able to relate to him right now. I don't think that that's a good thing. But who do you think that?

this target audience is that is lapping this up? And what do you think is drawing them in and keeping them so loyal? Well, I would say his target audience and the audience that he has cultivated is very male, almost exclusively. I don't know very many women outside of, like, tech people who want to know what other tech people are listening to, who are like, I care to hear this. And it's not because like they hate men. It's like, they're going to listen to a man. They need it to be edited. Wrap it up. So I think that like if we start with men, I think that there are lots of buckets, right? I think every socioeconomic class, I think probably coasts, center of the country. I don't believe that he has like a huge international following unless it's like UFC people who are just like,

I want to feel closer to that action and I'm like obsessed with anything from that sphere. I think the main thing that links to Maldo is like there is kind of a level of loneliness. And I also think the feeling of this guy gets to say what he wants and no one pushes back. And like it's Coltie in the same way that Maga to me feels. Giles Colty where it's like, look at this guy getting away with things. I never got to get away with things. My wife divorced me. My kids don't talk to me. Like, divorced dads are at the top of the list of his listeners. And then it's just everybody. I mean, Elon Musk is like, I can't wait to go back on there because my kids won't talk to me. But this guy's kind of like a big baby. He'll talk to me.

And maybe he'll come up on there for you page because people actually listen to him. Exactly. Right. People want to hear what he has to say for. some reason. But I think there is just this sort of epidemic. All of these studies and like, I won't be able to quote them. So good luck to your researcher who will pull them together. But I've read them. I've seen the research. Men don't have a lot of friends. They don't have community. They kind of laugh at the idea of it. But I do think that they still have things they want to process. And I think they would like to be in the position that Joe Rogan is in where they can just sort of say what they think and have people listen to it. And so for them, it's almost like

their aspirational guide. In the way that like lifestyle gurus on YouTube used to be a a thing for women. I think that's very much what he represents to them. It's like, yeah, if only my life could be like that, guys. Ooh, that's profound. Why do you think Joe Rogan has so many followers as he does, especially when he seems to

flip-flop back and forth between his beliefs? I would say it's two things. I think the first reason that Joe Rogan can maintain an audience is that he puts out so much content. I think people don't want to talk about that fact, but it's like

They studied this in monkeys, right? Where they were like, we put a mirror at the zoo. We put up posters of like one monkey all over the monkey's cages. And so everybody was like, that monkey's famous. Like all the monkeys started to treat that monkey differently. I believe that that's happening. Every day you were bombarded by a new four-hour episode. And so I think that there is just a level of flooding the zone with crap and clips.

And he can get all of these guests because it's already so big. So it's like there doesn't seem to be any sign of stopping. So I think that that's honestly. a part that people kind of ignore is like, yeah, if you made that much stuff and were so inescapable, you'd probably be really rich and famous too. The other part, I think, of maintaining an audience is sort of just what you were saying about you can't be nailed down. And I think that this is Trump's success too. The fact is Donald Trump can say today that he feels one way and change his mind tomorrow and his fan base will carry that water because the reality is whatever Donald Trump

says the reality is in this moment. If he thinks that we're liberating people in Greenland, because of colonialism, but then tomorrow it's about the resources, but then the next day it's about our proximity to them. So the answer is you have no real reason. It doesn't matter. And I think that breaking people down to the point of having to fight about the details, when you can just sort of be like, well, it doesn't matter. You can't hold me to it, so I'm unaccountable for what I'm saying. I was just asking questions. That is their way out. Yeah, devil's advocate. And if you have no center, it's like you can't be attacked. I just think that that's true.

Like, I think that if no one knows what you believe, but you're very famous, then, like, you can maintain that level of fame because people aren't following you because of what you believe. And I don't think people follow Joe Rogan because of what he believes. In the same way that people were asking during last year's election, is Joe Rogan to the left or right? I'm like, no. This man doesn't have any any actual politics. He goes where the money goes. Absolutely.

He's not competent enough to process politics in any way. He hasn't thought about anything deeply ever. That's why he could talk for three hours about a topic that has. a definitive answer. Yes. And the simple no is the best response to that. Is he on the left or right? No. And unaffected by the outcome. As we can see, no one's holding his feet to the fire about him saying that he, you know, was supporting Trump. Just the other day, I commented on a video of him being like very outspoken against these ice raids in Minnesota. And I can tell you his fans were like, I just think we should allow him to change his mind. And I'm like, and never hold him accountable though, right? Exactly. Right? So that he can in the next 10 minutes change his mind and say that ice. his heroes and the way that they're hurting and killing people is correct. And you'll carry that water.

Why can't he just feel how he feel? It's because they want that same leeway. Yes. Absolutely. And their bitch ex-wife won't let him. So now they have to project all that. You know, I'm right. Like, she reminded me, she pulled up receipts of when I was wrong.

That's one of the cultiest things, obviously, about him specifically as the charismatic leader. Because oftentimes in these cult-like structure, These people can kind of like obfuscate the point of so many things and like you say, they can absolve themselves from any type of responsibility, but people will still blindly follow anything that they say. Anything that they say because the person in question is not positioning themselves as an authority figure because they know that their audience feels threatened by authority figures.

This is something that Joe Rogan and Mr. Beast have in common that I see so strongly is that they have this super strong, I'm just like you. I'm just a regular dude persona, even though they're like raking in millions. So how do you think that persona is working for him? You know, I think something that's really interesting. I read this in Garbage Day, which is like a tech newsletter about the internet and why things are the way that they are and explaining it. And this was probably about a year ago now. They were talking about Mr. Beas and how he is specifically viral for viral sake. And I think that is actually the beginning and end of it, right? It's like this idea that if people are talking about what you're saying,

regardless of what it means, and it feels disarming because it's like, well, you're just some guy. You know, you could be my friend at the bar. Or in Mr. Beast's case, like, you're just some guy who's in his 20s whose mouth is open a lot. I don't really know about him. I don't know what his appeal. There's nothing to know. That's the point. Right.

Exactly. You just sort of project what you want onto him or your repulse. Yes. Many well-adjusted people, maybe. I just think for a lot of people, it's just. just sort of like a Rorschach test. And it's like, whatever you believe today is great. And I do think that there is this sort of emptiness in our culture.

People are constantly looking for and answer. Or someone who can tell us things aren't going well. So they're like, well, someone must know why. Who's the guy? You know, and it's hard to paint that onto Mr. Beast. I think his thing is really totally different. I think his appeal is he is nothing. He fades into the background.

And it's all just like the premise of whatever he's doing. That's fair. He's like, we're at the bottom of a volcano. And I'm giving you a million dollars to claw your way out. And it's like, I guess I'm a masochist and I want to see these people burn. And Joe Rogan is just sort of a guy who is like a running DVD commentary about the world around you. And it's just like, he's, I think for some people just really inoffensive, which makes it

really simple. He is never grinding an axe. I mean, look, has he fallen off? No, he's still the most prolific podcaster. He's very, very wealthy. He keeps getting deals. But I do think that there's at least a new discussion about him, which like before was just sort of like, but he's viral. So everyone should go on his podcast if they can go on his

podcast. And now I guess it feels like there's a shelf life to this sort of bumbling idiot or reluctant jester person who just doesn't own any of the commentary, but their entire job is commentary. Their entire job is just going, what? Exactly. Like saying like, this is what I believe. And then when it's wrong, being like, I don't know. I don't believe anything. I'm just a guy. You want to listen to me. I only told you to listen to me. Exactly. I don't even listen to me. Stop listening to me. They're like, he's just like me. I don't know anything. Exactly. Two dumb bitches looking at each other going, exactly. 100%. It's the listener and him, always, every time.

Okay, so oftentimes in cult structures, we see this quite evident us versus them dichotomy. How does Joe Rogan contribute to culty division? I mean, that's very, very. interesting. I will say that if you ever ask someone, like you find out somebody listens to Joe Rogan and then you're like me and you have no poker face, so you just start laughing like in their face. Yeah. They're like, you just haven't given it a chance. You just got to try. And I'm like, I don't know, man. I heard two hours at a car one time and that was plenty. And I'll tell you, I remember what he said. Most of his listeners can't tell you what an episode is about. But I remember he was at the point that I was in there, he went from talking about

politics broadly to like a guy chasing a chicken up the street. And I'm like, this to me isn't even entertainment. It's not even entertaining. It's something worse. Yes. And so it really to me feels like fandom, right? And I don't want to come after Taylor Swift fans because I'm like, please believe in anything. If this is what you care about is this album, this artist, fine. Not my biggest cup of tea, but fair. And I think that there is a level of if an album is not as good as another album, you cannot say it in that fandom. And I think they are desperate. to feel like what they like is cool, which is fine. I mean, I get it.

Like, I'm a big Beyonce fan. I don't think that... Hey. I think it's hard to point out any flops, personally. But I'm also an adult who is like, if you don't like Beyonce, that's a you thing. Say, right. Yeah. Exactly.

That's a you thing. You're wrong, but that's fine. Exactly. You have bad taste and you're not an artist. But like... Whatever. Not maybe. Yeah, exactly.

Right. And I think that, like, for them, it is just, especially because it's men, I think, I think, that there is this like investment in what I like is cool and other people think it's cool. A little brother syndrome is what I would call it. They're like, don't you like what I'm bringing to the table? It's this podcast. And I'm like, I think it sucks. And it to them feels like a personal attack. So I've tried to soften it. You know, maybe it doesn't suck. I don't think it's any good. I can hedge how I say it. We can be civil. But I do think that that is it where it's like, if you've been listening for five or six years, seven years of Joe Rogan, I mean,

his show has been going on for a pretty long time in like the sphere of podcast. You're not going to get off the wagon now. It would just be like cutting out a family member. And I think that that's the unfortunate thing. And especially with like cult tea people, you know, people who fall for it. It's hard to admit that you're wrong. There's a lot of shame in that. There's also just like you've got to fill that void somehow.

And I think that that feels really daunting to people. I used to live in L.A. I was there for like six years. And Scientology obviously is like really huge there. And again, not my cup of tea, but it is some people's religions, right? And I had a friend from L.A. I tell me, like, you know, when they do mixers for Scientology, they won't talk to Jewish people or black people.

And I was like, what do you mean? They were like, they won't try to like get them to join. And I'm like, well, why? And he's like, well, because historically they've had to figure out when things are like a scale. Yeah. Like, they've fallen for something before and like had to like historically dig their way out of an oppressor. Whereas like, someone who doesn't read that way might be willing to believe you when they say

that this is a free cruise across the Atlantic Ocean for an unpaid intern. Like, naivete. We're not doing that again. You know what I mean? We're not doing it again. Been there, done that. Exactly. Unfortunately, it went poorly.

And we're still trying to fix it. And so I think that like there's also a level of middle America white people because I do, I would also, obviously, it's more white people listening to him. Like, there's no world where like, the majority of his listeners are not white. But I do think that white people in the middle of the country who don't have community, don't have a third space, who have their home life that's not going well in a job that they hate, are like, this is my third space. And I can relate to people in the, like, subreddit about Joe Rogan. That's kind of it. And this is, in a way, my religion. Like, this is what I get

to believe in. God, that's so sad. Um, I mean, it's sad. But it's like, you know what I started thinking recently? Like, life is long. And people are, people always say it's short, but I'm like, again, you're not doing anything longer. What do you know that's longer? Right. Maybe death, but like, who can say? Life is short and also insufferably long. And so it's like people just got to fill their time. It's that or getting one of those like cups with a ball on a string and just like try it. Might as well.

Most of the time he's saying so much nothing anyway that it's like it's not really doing you much harm. They could listen to music. They could like care about art and the culture that they live. No. Don't do that. No. Have you seen this online where people are saying that men specifically that are kind of in this ether of like Joe Rogan, Red Pill, Encells, Manosphere, use a specific language where you can

kind of like spot them out in a crowd. They have been using the word women in exchange for woman. Always. It's always plural. I'm like, that's one person. That is grammatically incorrect. But usually they're calling them females anyway, so it doesn't have. Females is already like, come on. The red is flag. And I do think, I mean, you know, if we zoom out, this country has a major literacy problem. All the reporting is like, it's a lot worse than we think. Like, it's, it's, it's bad. Scary. I'm like, yeah, bitch, we're banning books. We are fucked. Yes, we're banning books. And it's like, geez, like, just let them read whatever they choose to read. Like, let them choose to read. If we're reading the transcript of the Joe Rogan podcast, it's probably like cite words at their

reading level anyway. We can get them started with that. We can work their way up. Yeah, like, they're not having to look any words of let's just start. Exactly. No polysyllabic Yeah, nothing, no. And if they are, they're incorrectly stated and the producer gets on and is like, actually the words you're looking for it. He's like, oh, that's right. Stupid, stupid. Yeah, exactly. He's like, oh, I hate words. I think that, like, there is just a level of regression in it. And I'm really shitting on these guys. I feel for them. They need a friend. It isn't me. But I just feel that, like, talk about, like, flop era, unc. I just feel like it's part of this whole moment we're in where, like, women and men are just growing. It. completely different rates in different directions. Like, these men aren't going to college because they think it's a woman's thing because women are overachieving in college. And so women are reading books and bettering their lives and, like, trying to have hobbies

and, like, building real friendships. And these guys are just alone in their room hating women for doing it. Scary times. It's not good. I think they should unplug the internet. Like, after this podcast comes out, do a little promo. This was specifically, this one. Yeah.

And then we can run it. Yes. And since it'll be the last podcast that comes out, everyone will listen to it because it'll be like, oh, the last of an era. Nostalgia. What do you think is the most dangerous effects of this cult versus some positive impacts of the cult, if any? Okay. I don't know if you remember this clip of Aretha Franklin being asked to rape pop stars. Oh.

She gets to get gowns, beautiful gowns. I wish I could say beautiful gowns about Joe Rogan. You know, I think the negative aspect is easier to speak to. But okay. Let's see. I do think that it's a lot of time that people are investing in something that is not, I don't think, enriching in any way. And I'm not going to say that people can't have their hobbies and that every podcast

has to be educational and you can't just enjoy hearing somebody talk and whatever. Like, fine. And I do think that like, if that's the only friend they have on the entire planet, then like, okay, it's very sad. Please touch a grasp. Please touch a single grass. But as far as the bad goes, I think it impacts people's personalities ultimately. And that's the negative downside.

If this is the most popular podcaster on earth who's making all of this money in a time when people are broke, they have nothing to really live for, everything feels out of reach. They're like, I'm never going to have a wife. I'm never going to have kids. I'm never going to have a house. I literally am leasing my car and the payment is due and I don't have it. This is someone that they look up to. And I think that when we lower the standard of role models, unfortunately, that impacts people.

And so you have, and I wouldn't even say, like, I used to be like, it's a generation of men. I think it's like men across all ages, unfortunately, are, like, affected by this. Because it's like, if you're a deadbeat dad and you got to, like, hang out with your kids for the weekend and you don't relate to them, you might just put on an episode of Joe Rogan and now they're listening to it. It's like a damn parasite. Oh, no. No. Like that's a melancholy. With Joe Rogan is dirty, nasty, awful work.

Horrific. This is what I'm saying. Unplug the internet. internet, but like, it's really bad. I just think that he exudes a lot of things that are wrong with society. Like, sort of money at all costs, no virtues, right? Like, complains about virtue signaling, but, like, not a virtue in sight. I can't think of a single thing. Like, he's not generous. He's not, especially patient because, like, he'll just rush to judgment and then be wrong. Like, he's not curious. He doesn't really give anybody the benefit of the doubt. He just sort of,

like, says what he thinks. He doesn't think the education is important based on what he says and thoughts. So it's like if this is the person that people are unfortunately looking up to, like, I don't think people are listening and like critically being like, this episode of Joe Rogan wasn't great for these reasons. Right, right, right, right. No one's writing in like, it's the newspaper being like, you spelled these words wrong. Like, they're just taking it in and then heating up something in the microwave. Like, I feel like it's really bad. I think it's bad not only for individuals. I think it's bad for entertainment, generally. We have a lot of executives in Hollywood and at these sort of podcast companies now who

think that that is a good model. And the idea that quantity is somehow its own form of quality is like pervasive where it's like, well, people are listening to it. It's like, yeah, a lot of people listen to like white noise to fall asleep. Doesn't mean that that's like a quality. It has value. Right. Right. And so I worry because throughout all of human history, there have been people, and especially like in moments of technological advances in communications, right? When we get a printing press, suddenly we're getting a bunch of like, people are just saying whatever they think and printing it out. And then the internet shows up and it's like, now we got a million conspiracy websites

and people are just going down rabbit holes and losing their minds. And now we have mass media communication. And there are probably as many podcasts as listeners to podcasts at this point. And so I think that if that is the top and the bar is that low, that doesn't bode well for the future of the medium or any other sort of mass media. I think that we are in a lot of trouble. He needs $100 million to get stoned and talk. Like, what are we doing?

He would have taken 25. Absolutely. Wasting resources here. Okay. What advice would you give to someone trying to escape the cult of Joe Rogan? Well, here's what I will say. Guys, because it's guys. Look, you might have some problems with women.

And I think that if you listen to a single woman every day and, like, one who's, like, looking out for you, not one who's mean. But like don't look to these guys as some sort of role model or like he's so cool and based because your friends think it. Like Joe Rogan has no bitches. Joe Rogan has long nipples. Joe Rogan has nothing to say. And I think the reality is if you're listening to some dude four hours a day and then you're mad at women, the call's coming from inside the house, my guy. Yeah.

Joe Rogan is not a woman, but that's who you're listening to all day. I just think that if we can be realistic about what we put into our bodies having some sort of effect on our bodies, then like what we're hearing all day has an effect on the outcome of our lives. So just diversify it. Give it a shot. One day, don't listen to him. Put on a woman. Just listen to music.

Try something else. Like, I think objectively, like, people don't realize how much of their time they're spending. And they think, you know, I watched this one guy on YouTube and I won't shut him out. Because I was so disappointed. I liked his videos and then he did an episode about how. he can't listen to music because it gets stuck in his head. And then he was like, so I have this addiction to podcasts. And the only thing he listened to was like, Beovon, Joe Rogan.

And I'm like, right, your brain doesn't work anymore. Yeah, no, there's no way you're a healthy person after that. No, no. And I think that the reality is life, like I said, it's too long and you got to fill it with something. But maybe not just one dude's opinions. Maybe not just one dude who like wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire, making stuff up, maybe just go out sometime. Go to a place with real people. Take a risk.

Yes. Take a shower and take a risk. And then take a risk. Because you're not going to have a good time if you didn't shower for it. Facts. Yo, listeners, if you don't take anything away from this episode, take away that Joe Rogan get zero bitches and has long nipples. Okay. Take that away. Right. At least I'm being honest about it. We are in a run. time and so we're all trying to self-sooth. There's other things you can do. You could clean your baseboards. Schedule a dentist appointment. These are easy things. We can all be so easy. Simple. Go shopping for some new pants. I don't know. Anything. Okay. It's time to play a game. This game is called Stan Band Bunk. And it is the Sounds Like a Cult version of Fuck Mary Kill. We are going to give you three different Joe Rogan experience guests of a certain denomination,

and you are to tell us whom you would stand, Ben, and bonk. Okay, so is bonk just like, now I have to fight them? Oh, I was thinking bonk in like a sexual context, but you could take bonk as beef if you like. Chelsea, what do you think? I go back and forth. Sometimes I feel like it's sexing and sometimes I feel like it's whack-a-mole. Every time I hear bong, I can't remember what we came up with.

Listen, let's treat it as sexy, and if I can't find anyone's sexy. You just want to hit everybody. You can hit everybody. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Elon Musk.

Mark Zuckerberg. Jack Dorsey. Elon. Okay, so bonk is hit. Salt that real quick. We got a violently bonk, Elon. Big bonk in the head. I mean, here's the thing.

I got to ban Jack Dorsey. He really fucked up. He should not have sold Twitter. And I think he shouldn't be so ashamed to show his face anywhere. And also, you know, like, I think the listeners of Joe Rogan are not getting anything from him. The only reason that I would, I don't really stand Mark Zuckerberg, but since it's the rules, I would say, like, listen to him and what you get out of it is like, don't be like that guy. That guy is like a weird robot.

Yes. That guy said that he like occasionally drinks coffee socially. Like, maybe that's what he said. Like, it was something weird. And I'm like, dude, why can't you just say one normal thing? You have the floor. And no, absolutely impossible. You built it, my brother.

Right. Like, literally, like. The floor is yours. Yeah. And don't go on a show that's unedited. Like. You need the editing. Take the editing.

Yeah. Facts. Facts. Okay, next group. Post Malone, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus. We're going to have to stand Miley in that group. I've got my own personal few with Miley. I used to work at Disney. I did the internship there in college,

and she was performing at their parade. She almost ran me over in the tunnels under the Magic Kingdom. She wasn't supposed to be driving a golf cart, and she was not looking at the mirrors. And I should have got hit because I'd be really rich right now. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I jumped out of the way.

You know what? Sorry, Miley. There's always going to be a little bit on my part. But generally speaking, like, her publicly, I saw some clips of her on Joe Rogan or maybe with some other shows. But she's got a level of sass and, like, come back, witticisms that I really appreciate.

And, like, we need women in these spaces. We have to ban Kanye. When I think of Kanye West, I'm like, you know how some people with young kids, like, little kids want to have a YouTube channel and so, like, they'll film their kids and then just, like, show them the video on their phone and be like, that's your channel.

Yeah. Like, you think that, like, we need to, like, create systems. where like Kanye's not being pumped out to the punk. Yes, absolutely. Where like he believes it and he's like, wow, everybody's fucking with what I have to say. And it's like no one's hearing him. Like he's in just like solitude.

Absolutely. And then Post Malone, like, I don't want to violently bonk him. I also do not want to sexually bonk him. I think he's just sort of like, but he has to be bonked. So we'll say it to move on. He's been bonked.

Okay, we're getting real scary again. Tucker Carlson, Bill Barnes. Ben Shapiro. Oh, we're doing the bad balk to Finn Shapiro. It's a white supremacist. I don't care what he says. All right. I've heard enough. I've seen it for years. That man will never waste an opportunity to throw black people who are minding their own business under the bus and come up with stories about their culture and how to change and blah, blah. And I just think that like he is a bad influence and he is a bad guy. Tucker Carlson is just like a pathetic Nepo baby grifter. Like the fish stick money didn't last long enough. And so now he has to be on the internet. And like, That's got to be hard. So, you know, I guess we still have to ban him. Bill Maher, I do not stand. But what I will say is I stand the fact that he is just a loser villain. He really represents, I wouldn't say all boomers.

I would say a very specific kind of boomer that is like angry all the time, even though they're winning. Like HBO should have canceled that show 20 years ago and they didn't. Why can't he just take the win? Right. The win. Right. Are you so malcontent all the time?

All the time. I didn't win an award. No one wants to hear from you. Take the job. Cash the check. Can't help himself. Right. There's just nothing behind the eyes.

Okay. Final one. No explanation. And you know what? My final rule is this is sexual bunk. No, you. So you guys are just trying to get the clips. All right.

Five. Or clip farm. All right. Cote or podcast. Sorry. Okay. Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Robert Kennedy Jr. I want you to know.

When I thought you were. I was stunned. How convenient. Yeah, exactly. I just like am staring while I like close the window. It's hard on my internet. Damn. Sexually.

Here's a thing. I guess I will sexually bonk and I'm doing the bonking. So take that. J.D. Mint. He is not getting an ounce of pleasure out of this bunk. No. Okay. Okay. If we're gonna stand...

You guys are evil. Sorry. I'm so... Like, if I could blush, the blush would be happening. I'm gonna stand RFK. I can't explain. My explanation would not be satisfactory anyway. And we have to ban Donald Trump.

We have to get rid of the... respectable answer. I don't think you had a good option there. Yes, this is really bad. This is like giving me the option to like implode. Like let me just. Okay. Let me end it on. So good. Nuclear option. So good. Nuclear option. Well, now we're going to give you some other options. Thank you. Thank you. You're going to decide for us out of our three cult categories, live your life, a watch your

back or get the fuck out. What do you think the cult of Joe Rogan falls into? I think you got to watch your back. If you're going to listen to this guy, just like drone on and on, I feel like you're susceptible to being tricked. Like, you might fall in a hole one day. And this is just be stopped. Yep. You got to learn to read and like, it's not easy. Like, you gotta like take it one day at a time and try to make some connections. Because I think that ultimately, evil is being done on this earth. And if you can't be discerning, that's a you problem ultimately. Yes. Like, I think that Joe Rogan will always come out unscades because there are

people with nothing behind the eyes willing to carry the water for him. But like, you might end up losing your friends and family because you follow Joe Rogan off a clip. So just watch her back. Yeah. It's good. Well sad. Good. Akela, if you want any of our culties to follow you, where can they do that?

Well, you can definitely follow me on my Instagram at Akela H. You should definitely listen to How Is This Better. Like, the vibes here are immaculate and they are very similar over on how is this better every Friday on YouTube or wherever you get podcast. And I cannot recommend Twitter anymore. So I guess that's it. If you can't find me on Instagram, you can't find me anywhere. You know what I mean? No, facts.

Facts. Well, Coltys, that was our show. Thank you so much for listening. Join us for a new cult next week. And in the meantime, stay culty. But not too culty. Sounds like a cult was created by Amanda Montel and edited by Jordan Moore of the

podcabin. This episode was hosted by Reese Oliver and Chelsea Charles. Our managing producer is Katie Epperson. Our theme music is by Casey Cole. Additional research for this episode by Naomi Nakahoto. If you enjoyed the show, we'd really appreciate it if you could leave it five stars on Spotify or Apple podcasts. It really helps the show a lot. And if you like this podcast, feel free to check out my book, Cultish, The Language of Fanaticism, which inspired the show. You might also enjoy my other books, The Age of Magical O overthinking, notes on Modern Irrationality, and and word slut, a feminist guide to taking back the English language. Thanks as well to our network studio 71.

And be sure to follow the Sounds Like a Cult cult on Instagram for all the discourse at Sounds Like a Cult pod or support us on Patreon to listen to the show ad-free at patreon.com slash sounds like a cult.