Activists in the Los Angeles area said podcaster Joe Rogan’s recent joke about shooting the homeless was “repulsive” and “infuriating.”
During the podcast on Thursday, standup comic Tom Segura mentioned a recent federal court ruling that protects homeless people’s property from government seizure in Los Angeles. Mr. Rogan laughed at the idea of being arrested for stealing from the homeless.
“Maybe you should just go shoot the homeless people. … I mean nobody does anything about violent crime in LA anymore,” Mr. Rogan said, according to Variety.
Activists were quick to condemn Mr. Rogan’s comments.
“It’s repulsive. It’s infuriating because it’s not only out of touch, but the reality is that unhoused people are targeted by housed people,” Theo Henderson, creator of the “We The Unhoused” podcast, told Variety.
Andy Bales, CEO of Los Angeles’ Union Rescue Mission, said Mr. Rogan’s comments could spur real-life action.
“Murders of homeless people in Los Angeles went up 47% last year over the previous year. … There is a bit of an unfortunate vigilantism already in Los Angeles towards people devastated by homelessness and they don’t need any encouragement,” Mr. Bales told Variety.
Mr. Rogan is no stranger to controversy. His Spotify podcast was accused of spreading misinformation regarding vaccines and alternative treatments to COVID-19.
The furor ultimately led some artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, to remove their catalogs from Spotify in protest.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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