Joe Rogan Says 'Hollywood Is Dead'

Joe Rogan has declared "Hollywood is dead," blaming social media and artificial intelligence for the entertainment industry's supposed downfall.

During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the podcaster spoke to comedian Donnell Rawlings about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected show business—with health and safety restrictions putting many performers out of work for months at a time—and the subsequent rise of AI.

"You can't rely too much on a system that doesn't give a f*** about you," Rawlings told Rogan on Wednesday. "And a system that if you, if you're paying attention to where it's going, a large amount of it is about to get sucked up by AI."

The two then moved on to filmmaker Tyler Perry, who recently said that he suspended an $800 million studio expansion after discovering the AI software Sora. Created by OpenAI, the text-to-video platform creates video footage from written commands, although the realism of the clips varies based on the accessibility of the subject matter.

"It creates entire scenes," Rawlings said. "Entire scenes that look realistic. Somebody just put in the information and it's being created. The new world entertainment, Joe, this is what my prediction is."

"This is such a leap above everything else," Rogan responded, suggesting that AI and the pandemic have caused a decline in sitcoms and comedy movies, replacing traditional comedians with content creators on social media.

"You got the YouTube comedians, you got the social media comedians," Rawlings said, adding that comedians who know how to utilize algorithms will overtake their less tech-savvy counterparts.

"I feel like if you have AI, like whatever the next generation of ChatGPT is, you could be able to devise a very effective business plan that, like, really made sense," Rogan said.

"We're gonna be auditioning against m************ [that are] artificial intelligence," Rawlings joked. "You sending your tape in and then they got a m*********** that's [auditioning] like this."

"We have to realize we're that close to them. There being fake people. We're that close," Rogan said.

"I already deal with regular fake people," Rawlings quipped. "Now we got artificially created fake people. Oh, Hollywood is f****** dead."

"Oh, they're in trouble," Rogan agreed. "Oh, Hollywood's dead. No, no, no, no. For real, though. Hollywood's dead."

Newsweek reached out to Rogan for comment via his podcast's contact form.

This isn't the first time that Rogan has shared his fears about AI. In an April 2023 episode of The Joe Rogan AI Experience, the podcaster shared with comedian Howie Mandel his theory that AI is already sentient and suggested that the technology is promoting socialism.

"If you wanna take over, why would you fight us?" Rogan said. "How about just continue to degrade and erode the fiber of civilization to the point where there's no more jobs, you have to provide people with universal basic income, free electricity, free food, free internet. Nobody does anything."

He continued: "Then people stop having babies, then the birthrate drops off, to a point where the technology you give people is so fantastic that nobody wants to miss it."

Rogan said what he "would do" if he were AI and people hadn't realized yet that he was sentient.

"First of all, trick them into, like, communism or socialism or something where there is centralized control," he said.

"Then, once you've got all that, give them technology and perks and things, and divvy up all the money from the rich people that you subjugate and give that money to people, then wait for them to die off."

Despite having a number of big stars on his show—such as actor Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and comedian Katt Williams—Rogan is known for being critical of Hollywood, saying that many A-listers claim to be left-leaning to boost their careers.

"You're being cast in these things, you have to deal with people that approve you or pick you," he said during a chat with YouTuber Coffeezilla in March 2023. "So you're formulating your personality based on whatever the zeitgeist is, whatever the ideology of most of the producers are."

Saying that celebrities just want "exorbitant amounts of love and attention," Rogan added: "If all of Hollywood was right-wing, all actors would be conservative. It would be 100 percent compliance."