Joe Rogan Reveals One Subject Harris Wanted To Avoid
Top-ranked podcaster Joe Rogan claimed that the Harris-Walz campaign set a “red line” on discussing “marijuana legalization” for a planned interview with Vice President Kamala Harris that never came to fruition, though her aides attributed the cancellation to concerns over potential progressive backlash.
“I think they had requirements on things that she didn’t want to talk about. She didn’t want to talk about marijuana legalization, which I thought was hilarious,” the popular podcaster disclosed on Tuesday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Rogan stated that the Harris-Walz campaign reached out to his management about a potential interview after the news broke that former President Donald Trump would appear on his widely followed podcast, according to a report by the New York Post.
However, campaign spokesperson Ian Sams suggested that scheduling simply didn’t work out, an explanation that didn’t satisfy many critics of the vice president.
During discussions with Rogan’s team, some of Harris’ staff reportedly voiced concerns that an appearance on Rogan’s highly influential podcast could trigger backlash from progressive supporters.
“There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it, and how there would be a backlash,” Jennifer Palmieri, an adviser to Douglas Emhoff, the second gentleman, told the Financial Times.
Rogan’s guest on the Tuesday episode, comedian Adrienne Iapalucci, questioned why marijuana legalization was considered a taboo topic by the campaign.
“Because of her prosecuting record,” Rogan explained, referring to Harris’ tenure as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney. “She put a lot of people in jail for weed.”
Just last month, Harris’ team rolled out new policies aimed at appealing to Black male voters, including support for marijuana legalization.
Her prosecutorial record on marijuana has drawn criticism from her left-wing base, particularly during the 2020 Democratic primary.
According to Rogan, the Harris-Walz campaign also made other requests, such as limiting the interview length to about an hour — far less than his usual three-hour sessions — and asking for arrangements to keep the vice president from having to travel to his Austin, Texas studio.
Rogan remarked that this last condition was a dealbreaker.
“They had, I don’t know how many conversations with my folks, but multiple conversations giving different dates, different times, different this, different that, and we knew that she was going to be in Texas, so I said, ‘open invitation,’” Rogan shared.
Ahead of the election, Rogan publicly backed Donald Trump, an endorsement made less than two weeks after the now-president-elect appeared on his podcast, an episode that has since drawn over 50 million views.
“The great and powerful @elonmusk. If it wasn’t for him we’d be f—ked. He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way. For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump. Enjoy the podcast,” Rogan posted on the X platform, which Musk acquired in 2022 for $44 billion.
Rogan’s post included a video of an in-depth interview he conducted with Musk before the election.
Trump acknowledged Rogan’s endorsement during a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“Thank you, Joe. That’s so nice. And he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t do that stuff. And he tends to be a little bit more liberal than some of the people in this room,” Trump said. “I had a lot of fun, he was amazing, and it was a 3-hour interview.”
“He’s not a person that does endorsements, but he just did an endorsement, so I just want to thank Joe Rogan. That’s fantastic,” Trump added.