California Gov. Gavin Newsom has turned the heat up in his ongoing feud with podcaster Joe Rogan.
Newsom, 58, has been baiting Rogan, also 58, over the podcaster not having him as a guest on his show, which has been Spotify’s top podcast globally for six years in a row.
Newsom’s Press Office account posted on X last Thursday that Rogan was a “little guy” and “too chicken” to interview the governor, “because he’d know I’d crush him.”
The troll account doubled down on the poultry insult on Sunday by posting an AI—generated image of Newsom behind the podcaster’s desk. Next to him, a sweaty, pint-sized Rogan appears, clutching a chicken in a coop with his name on it.
The Daily Beast has contacted Rogan’s reps for comment.
The Press Office account also shared an unearthed August 2023 clip last week, where Rogan said, “Nobody wants President Newsom.”
“Nobody believes in that guy. The guy’s a f---ing con man,” Rogan said during the 2023 conversation with Patrick Bet-David, a conservative podcaster who has also railed against Newsom, as the pair discussed California’s COVID-19 policies of the time.
Conspiracy theorist Rogan moved to Texas from California in 2020, in part because of the state’s looser pandemic restrictions.
“Whether you like Trump or not, whether you think he’s corrupt or not, that’s a human being,” Rogan said on Bet-David’s Valuetainment podcast. “With Newsom, you’ve got like this construct, this cardboard cutout of a person.”
Newsom’s office shared a Daily Beast report on his X post on Saturday, mocking President Trump’s all-caps approach and repeating the “little guy” insult, seemingly referencing online debate about the diminutive podcaster’s height.
Offering a “booster seat” if Rogan agrees to interview him, Newsom said “UNTIL THEN, HE IS WORSE THAN ‘CHICKEN.’ HE IS TOFU!”
Newsom’s office also called out Rogan for taking “cheap shots from the peanut gallery as he gets relegated to irrelevancy” in one of his posts last week, also claiming he was “hiding” and “too chicken” to feature him on the podcast.
He has been using the “chicken” insult against Rogan as far back as last October. At the time, Rogan was asked what would happen if he agreed to interview the California governor.
“He would cook himself,” Rogan said, noting that Newsom’s “talking s--t” on X was “so stupid” and a “bad strategy.”
“I probably would have had him on, but now it’s like ‘What are you doing?,’” Rogan said.
In response, Newsom tweeted a chicken emoji from his own X account, with the words, “Bawk, bawk @joerogan.”
The governor said Rogan had been “attacking me for years and years and years and won’t have me on the show,” on the Higher Learning podcast that same month.
Addressing the camera, Newsom said, “Joe, why won’t you have me on the show? He won’t have me on the show. It’s one way. And he has guests coming and attacking and bashing, but he will not have me on the show.”
Exposure on Rogan’s show, which also topped Apple and YouTube charts last year, would benefit Newsom’s potential presidential bid.
The Joe Rogan Experience has hosted Donald Trump, FBI Director Kash Patel and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
He has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube, while his 2024 interview with Trump has now had over 62 million views.
