Comedian Joe Rogan has claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to come on his popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and implied he was skeptical about the idea.
Rogan made the remark on episode 2236 of his podcast, which was released on Thursday and featured fellow podcasters Shane Gillis, Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir as guests.
The remark comes after Rogan sparked controversy by suggesting Zelensky was part of a group that “are about to start World War III” telling the Ukrainian leader “f*** you, man” during the November 22 edition of his podcast. Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 22, 2022, sparking the war which The Wall Street Journal estimated in September has resulted in one million killed or injured.
During his latest podcast Rogan discussed the possibility of a war with Russia, commenting: “I don’t really think Putin’s that stupid. I think he’s gonna realize what’s going on and I think they’re probably working this out. Alex Jones said Trump is having secret meetings at Mar-a-Lago, I hope it’s true.”
Referring to his podcast Rogan added “Zelensky tried to come on” sparking a shocked reaction from his podcast guests. He continued: “They tried to get Zelensky on. I was like, what are you talking about?”
Rogan went on to discuss the process for booking guests for his show without elaborating about Zelensky’s offer. Newsweek contacted The Joe Rogan Experience and President Zelensky, via online contact form and email respectively, for comment on Friday outside of regular office hours.
On the November 22 edition of his podcast, Rogan discussed President Biden giving Ukraine permission to use American missiles to hit targets inside Russia, which sparked a furious response and threats of retaliation from the Kremlin.
Rogan said: “Zelensky says Putin is terrified. F* you, man. F* you people. You people are about to start World War III.”
In response, former Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko posted a video on X asking Rogan to invite him on his podcast so they could talk about their “points of difference.”
Klitschko said: “Putin’s Russia is in trouble, so Putin wants to scare you and people like you. His war was supposed to last three days. It lasted three years, thanks to the heroism and sacrifice of us Ukrainians.
