Joe Rogan took credit for persuading reluctant celebrities to attend President Donald Trump’s UFC event at the White House.
“I talked a bunch of people into going that didn’t want to,” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” posted Wednesday. “Shane Gillis was thinking about not going. I’m like, bro, you got to go. It’s gonna be epic. It’s gonna be a once-ever thing. Not a once-in-a-lifetime, once in anybody’s lifetime. It’s never happened before. It’s probably never going to happen again.”
While the presence of comedians Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe could perhaps be expected, Nate Bargatze stirred up a lot of attention. Photos of the popular comic at the White House with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and with Rogan and GOP Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders got tongues wagging.
Bargatze’s reputation for being apolitical may have taken a hit, despite his publicist insisting he was there because he loves UFC and was not there to make a statement.
“So many people are trying to make it a partisan thing,” Rogan griped. “They’re mad at people for being there. Like, ‘Oh, you support Trump.’ It’s a fucking fight at the White House. Doesn’t mean you endorse foreign policy. Like, shut the fuck up. Just please stop.”
Rogan said “both sides” want to claim victories from the evening. For example, he added, the right was “celebrating this as a win for masculinity and patriotism.”
“OK, settle down,” he snapped. “Everybody settle down.”
The podcaster did not address the biggest elephant in the room — heavyweight Josh Hokit’s obnoxious post-victory declaration to Rogan that “Michelle Obama is a man.” Rogan smiled as he held the microphone for Hokit.
UFC boss Dana White criticized the comments while Gillis said he “didn’t love that.” Meanwhile, Trump and his administration’s silence on the matter has persisted.
