Joe Rogan has spoken out about the viral clip of his conversation with President Donald Trump at a UFC match.
The 58-year-old podcaster shut down wild speculations that Trump, 79, had called him out for criticizing the administration during a brief conversation that was caught—inaudibly—on camera.
A clip of the interaction showed Trump approaching Rogan at the Kaseya Center in Florida during a UFC fight earlier this month, just as Vice President JD Vance announced the failure of peace talks with Iran. Their conversation was drowned out by commentators, but Trump could be seen shaking Rogan’s hand and later clasping him by the shoulders.
Social media users were quick to speculate that Trump was scolding Rogan for speaking out against the administration.
“No, it was the opposite,” Rogan said in a Tuesday episode of his eponymous podcast, revealing that he was actually talking to Trump about psychedelics.
“It was literally the opposite. I texted him on Friday about ibogaine, and I was telling him how all these vets—this is the one that vets use,” he explained. “And I told him about it, and I told him, ‘I had these guys on the podcast, and I know so many people that have done it, particularly soldiers that have done it.’”
Ibogaine, a compound found in the roots of the African shrub iboga, has stirred interest in the medical community for its potential to treat opioid and cocaine addiction despite risks of seizures and cardiotoxicity.
“I told him about it, I said how effective it is, and I said it’s been held up for so long,” Rogan continued. “And he said, ‘What are you looking for? You looking for FDA approval?’ He goes, ‘It sounds good to me.’ He said, ‘Let’s do it.’ And so, he literally sees me at the UFC the next day, shakes my hand, and says, ‘It’s done.’ That’s what he was saying. I said, ‘Thank you, sir.’ It wasn’t like he was mad at me at all.”
“This is the truth. That’s exactly what happened: he came to me, and he said, ‘It’s done. We’re going to take care of it. This is a good thing. It’s a good thing for the soldiers, good thing for everybody.’ And then he had the press conference the next week,” Rogan added.
Rogan stood behind Trump at the Oval Office on Saturday as the president signed an executive order directing an expedited review of psychedelics, including ibogaine, for treating serious mental illness.
The podcaster made clear on Tuesday that he still considers himself “politically homeless,” noting that Trump even jokingly called him “liberal” at the White House event.
“We all respect Joe, and he’s a little bit more liberal than I am,” Trump quipped. “That’s OK. I have a lot of friends that are liberal. But Joe is an amazing guy, and he wrote me a little note about this, and I had it checked out.”
Rogan still got invited to the Oval Office even after publicly breaking from Trump on a number of issues, from the war with Iran to the president’s Jesus-inspired posting spree.
“It’s f---ing terrifying. All of it’s terrifying,” Rogan said of the Iran war. “Anytime you’re involved with you’re shooting missiles into towns and blowing things up, blowing up infrastructure, blowing up bridges, you know, and Israel’s blowing up Lebanon. Now, it’s like, what the f--- are we doing? How is this still going on?”
