Viral Joe Rogan Podcast Joke Divides Internet

Joe Rogan has become the focus of a viral joke on Twitter, after an edited image was shared imagining a world where train passengers would be made to listen to his hit podcast with little to no choice.

Rogan has been at the center of a number of controversies of late though he remains the de facto king of Spotify as the platform's most popular contributor.

Discussing the topics making the headlines on any given day, The Joe Rogan Experience has seen the host share his thoughts on everybody from President Joe Biden to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

However, Rogan himself dominated headlines in 2022, when he was widely criticized by hundreds of medical and scientific experts for airing false statements on vaccines and the COVID pandemic on his show.

With Rogan being a continued talking point, it is perhaps unsurprising that he came to the mind of Twitter users when an edited image was shared of a sign on a train door that read: "This is a Spotify carriage. We know daylight savings = darker commutes. Connect your Bluetooth to this carriage speaker and brighten up the journey for those around you. Running for the duration of winter."

"What are you blasting in the Spotify carriage," asked the uploader, prompting one person to respond in a quote tweet: "Bro imagine ur tired on your way to work at 8 am and u start hearing Joe Rogan in surround sound."

They also imagined "coming back from your 9-5 and having to listen to 30 minutes of who would win in a fight between an alien and 3 giraffes" via Rogan's podcast.

The post quickly went viral, garnering more than 4 million views, as other Twitter users weighed in with their feelings on the take.

"I'm getting off at the next station and will be 2 hours late to work in this situation," wrote one Twitter user in response.

Posting a video clip of Rogan on his podcast, one shared the idea of heading home on the subway "from a 90hr shift," only to hear the star making loud noises.

"Hearing him respond to a thoughtful answer by one of his guests with 'yeah, but have you ever tried DMT?' would make me want to drive to work and sit in 45 minutes of traffic instead," commented another, making reference to the powerful psychedelic.

Pointing out that the scenario currently remains very much in the realms of fantasy, another Twitter user said: "Thank god this is just a photoshop edit."

In a sign of Rogan's status as the world's most successful podcasters, a number of the broadcaster's fans leapt to his defense.

"That'd honestly make my day," said one about listening to Rogan on the train.

"Often what I'm listening to on the [way] home anyway," wrote another.

Taking on both sides of the argument, one Twitter user mentioned Rogan's earlier podcast episodes, "where he actually made sense," and compared them to "the later ones, where he nosedived into Right-wing conspiracy theories."

After Rogan was accused of airing false statements on vaccines and COVID on his podcast, several artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, took their music off Spotify in protest against sharing a platform with the podcaster. A number of artists have since returned to Spotify.

Rogan also came under fire for his repeated use of the n-word across multiple episodes. The former Fear Factor host apologized amid the backlash and also said that clips shared on social media had been taken out of context.

Rogan started his podcast on YouTube back in 2009. By 2015, it had grown to become one of the world's most popular podcasts, regularly pulling in millions of views.

In December 2020, Rogan signed a licensing deal with Spotify for the platform's exclusive rights to broadcast the podcast. It was widely reported at the time to be worth $100 million, although The New York Times reported in February 2022 that the true number for the three-and-a-half-year deal was "at least" $200 million.