Joe Rogan has admitted that he once considered leaving the USA to live in another country, only for the pandemic to change his mind.
The UFC commentator has become one of the most popular podcasters in the world since launching the Joe Rogan Experience in 2009.
From humble beginnings which saw the stand-up comedian's guests on the show come largely from the worlds of comedy and MMA, his podcast now regularly tops the Spotify charts and the show's dedicated YouTube channel has over 19 million subscribers.
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It as been revealed that the cost of advertising on the JRE starts at a minimum of $120,000, while in 2020 Rogan signed a $100 million deal with Spotify to grant the streaming giant exclusive rights to his podcast.
Last year, it was reported that the 57-year-old renewed his agreement with Spotify in a deal worth a staggering $250 million.
Many of the biggest celebrities in the world have appeared as guests on the JRE, with the likes of Mike Tyson, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg taking part in interviews that usually stretch beyond the three-hour mark.
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And ahead of the US presidential election last November, Donald Trump featured as a guest on the show. Trump's appearance – couple with Rogan's official endorsement of the Republican candidate on X on the eve of the poll – is believed to have played a significant role in his re-election.
In a recent episode that features former UFC fighter Royce Gracie as a guest, Rogan explained that he once considered moving to Australia.
“There’s no place that has this kind of freedom,” he said, before revealing: “I used to think Australia.”
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However, Rogan – who was critical of quarantine and mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic and refused the vaccine – was put off making a move Down Under by how the Australian government dealt with the pandemic.
“I saw how they handled the pandemic [and] I was like, ‘Oh f***, well, that’s what happens when no one has guns,” he said.
“Yep, the army just rolls in and tells you what to do and puts you in concentration camps because you have a cold, like it’s crazy.”
Ryan Baldi