The guy who steps into the ring as soon as the fight is over, to interview the winner? It’s him. If the loser is still fit, he is ready to hand him the microphone as well. Joe Rogan, radio host, champion of provocation, is a great fan of martial arts. Stocky, punchy, a specialist in getting inside, he is also a stand-up comedian. “A little ball of anger”, according to the nickname given to him by his colleagues. His comic register: anti-politically correct.
If he is in the hot seat today, it is for his podcast. “JRE” or “Joe Rogan Experience” is a worldwide success. Broadcast on Spotify, it is the most listened to of the approximately 3.2 million podcasts hosted by the Swedish music streaming giant. Joe Rogan, 54, receives all kinds of guests there, musicians, psychologists, scientists, chefs, former special forces, boxers (and boxers), known or unknown, but always iconoclastic. For months, the microphone has been wide open to anyone who challenges anti-Covid health measures and vaccination.
On January 24, singer Neil Young put the platform on notice to stop misinformation. “Spotify can have Rogan or Young. Not both », complained the ex-legend of folk-rock of the 1970s. The Swedish company refused to censor the troublemaker to 11 million daily listeners. Two days later, Neil Young preferred to withdraw his songs from the catalog, accusing the platform of “making money with lies”. After Facebook and Twitter, Spotify in turn found itself embroiled in a standoff over freedom of expression and political correctness at the time of the pandemic.
From New Jersey to Ultimate Fighting matches
Joe Rogan was born in Newark, in this half-Italian half-Irish New Jersey sung by Bruce Springsteen. His father was a police officer – and violent at home. His parents divorced when he was 5 years old. At 14, the teenager began karate and, a year later, taekwondo, of which he became four-time champion in Massachusetts, then champion of the United States. After dropping out of college, he dabbled in comedy.
A black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he has distinguished himself since 1997 as a commentator for matches on the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) circuit, the organization that had the idea of launching wrestlers of different categories in the same ring, and that the best win. Rogan has accompanied the rise of the UFC among young people: against all odds, millennials have fallen in love with the tournament, and for its hero, Conor McGregor, the worst sleeper the ring has known today. now converted into an influencer for a whiskey brand.
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