If it was up to Joe Rogan he would have cleared the homeless of LA with just a bullet. The podcaster’s recent comments targetting the vulnerable community of the society have gathered criticism. People are publically sharing their distaste for his comments.
Among them, we also have the advocates of Los Angeles’ unhoused community. They are holding Rogan accountable for encouraging violence towards unhoused people on his influential podcast.
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Joe Rogan’s Recent Comments “Repulse” The Advocates For Homeless People
In recent interviews with ‘Variety,’ advocates for unhoused people criticized the latest installment of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’. As it included a discussion about homelessness in L.A. between the host and his guest, Tom Segura.
During the episode, streamed on July 14 on Spotify, Rogan acted surprised when comedian Segura pointed out that unhoused people’s belongings are “protected property … by law” in L.A.
“Oh, a homeless person’s property is protected?” Rogan asked. A confident Segura replied, “Absolutely,” and implied that anyone who tried to “move” or “take” an unhoused person’s belongings would face consequences for their actions.
“You’d get arrested,” Rogan said. “Hilarious. But they wouldn’t arrest you if you shot somebody. Maybe you should just go shoot the homeless people.”
“I like your ideas,” Segura told Rogan, who claimed that “nobody does anything about violent crime in L.A. anymore.” The UFC commentator’s remarks were not well received on social media or by local activists.
Theo Henderson, an advocate for unhoused people found these statements “repulsive”. He expressed concerns that Rogan could provoke listeners to harm unhoused people in real life. Henderson is also the creator of the podcast ‘We the Unhoused‘.
“It’s infuriating because it’s not only out of touch, but the reality is that unhoused people are targeted by housed people,” Henderson told Variety. “To advocate trying to shoot at unhoused people or just giving these dog whistles to people that do not see unhoused people as human beings — I can’t believe you’d advocate for it.”
Rogan’s Comment Could Ignite The ‘Vigilantism’ Against The Homeless
Andy Bales, president of the Homeless Shelter Union Rescue Mission in downtown LA was also “surprised and saddened” by Rogan’s behavior. He even invited Rogan “to come to Union Rescue Mission to see … what’s happening on the streets and who these people are who he’s talking about.”
“The comments about beginning to kill homeless people hits too close to reality for any comfort, because murders of homeless people in Los Angeles went up 47% last year over the previous year,” Bales told Variety. “There is a bit of an unfortunate vigilantism already in Los Angeles towards people devastated by homelessness and they don’t need any encouragement.”
Last week’s episode of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience‘ also ignited a sharp backlash on social media.
“What trash and actually dangerous comments given his influence,” tweeted public relations and communications consultant Meggan Ellingboe. He even urged Spotify to donate to local nonprofit radio station Dublab in support of Henderson’s podcast.
What trash and actually dangerous comments given his influence. Perhaps a donation to @dublab from @Spotify to better amplify We The Unhoused podcast is in Oder. https://t.co/DQJQUB1Jfc
— Meggan Ellingboe (@megganje) July 19, 2022
“Hey @SpotifyUSA – do you think this kind of dangerous, stupid blather is okay?” tweeted @joe_curtaincall. “When a homeless person gets shot soon, are you going to defend Rogan?”
Hey @SpotifyUSA – do you think this kind of dangerous, stupid blather is okay? When a homeless person gets shot soon, are you going to defend Rogan?https://t.co/NB0hPqNDeG
— Joe Kirkendall (@joe_curtaincall) July 19, 2022
“How devoid of human decency do you have to be to even entertain an idea like this or even joke about it????” tweeted actor and biologist Christine Heideman.
Joe Rogan is WASTE OF FLESH. How devoid of human decency do you have to be to even entertain an idea like this or even joke about it????#joerogansucksass https://t.co/nBUksR3vij via @Yahoo
— Christine Heideman (@myhrmayd) July 19, 2022
Artists Abandon Spotify, Due To Joe Rogan’s Take On COVID-19 And Using The N-Word
This is certainly not the first time that Rogan has come under fire. Earlier this year, Neil Young and other entertainment luminaries abandoned the streaming platform Spotify to protest against Rogan for “spreading false information” about the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to this criticism, Rogan released a statement: “It’s best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives, so we can maybe find a better point of view.”
Singer-songwriter India Arie, also boycotted Spotify last winter along with Young. The duo pointed out that Rogan is “consciously racist” and says the N-word repeatedly on his podcast.
Arie even posted video footage on social media of Rogan using the racist slur about 20 times. The podcast host apologized and said, “I hope this could be a teachable moment for anybody that doesn’t realize how offensive that word could be coming out of a white person’s mouth, in context or out of context.”
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