Robert F Kennedy Jr’s independent presidential campaign may be seeing poll numbers fall and funds dwindle, amid bizarre tales about brain worms and pranks with dead bears and accusations of dangerous conspiracy mongering, but he has nonetheless secured a sought-after supporter: Joe Rogan.
The popular podcaster appeared to offer his endorsement on Thursday, saying Kennedy was “the only one that makes sense to me”.
Rogan said: “He doesn’t attack people, he attacks actions and ideas, but he’s much more reasonable and intelligent. I mean, the guy was an environmental lawyer and he cleaned up the East River. He’s a legitimate guy.”
Rogan was referring to Kennedy’s work in the years before he became widely known as a vaccine conspiracy theorist – views which last weekend led John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight on HBO, to call Kennedy “a full-blown menace”.
“You don’t get to say ‘I’m not anti-vaxx’ then wander around the woods telling people not to vaccinate their babies like you’re some red-pilled version of Smoky the Bear,” Oliver said, adding: “The idea of RFK is appealing but so many of the reasons to support him do not stand up to the slightest of scrutiny.”
Rogan disagrees. Democrats and Republicans, he told listeners, “gaslight you, they manipulate you, they promote narratives – and the only one who is not doing that is Robert F Kennedy Jr”.
Rogan has hosted Kennedy, including an appearance highlighted by Oliver in which Kennedy endorsed a book, Cause Unknown: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022, which claims Covid vaccines kill young people and for which Kennedy wrote an introduction.
Rogan has also voiced vaccine conspiracy theories, causing controversy he references in a new Netflix comedy special, saying: “Before Covid, I would have told you that vaccines are the most important invention in human history. After Covid, I’m like, ‘I don’t think we went to the moon. I think Michelle Obama’s got a dick. I think Pizzagate is real. I think there’s direct energy weapons in Antarctica.’
“I’m just kidding – I don’t think Michelle Obama’s got a dick, but I believe all of that other shit.”
Rogan has a huge audience, with more than 14.5 million listeners just on Spotify, which this year gave him a deal worth a reported $250m.
Accepting Rogan’s earlier support, Kennedy said: “This election is not about left vs right. It’s about Americans of goodwill coming together to end the tyranny of corruption in our system – so that we once again have a government and economy that works for all people.”
On Friday afternoon, Rogan clarified his stance on Kennedy, telling his followers on X: “For the record, this isn’t an endorsement. This is me saying that I like RFK Jr as a person, and I really appreciate the way he discusses things with civility and intelligence. I think we could use more of that in this world.”
He also recalled the moment after the attempt on Trump’s life in July, pointing to the moment the former president raised his fist to the sky and exclaimed, “fight”, Rogan said it was “one of the most American fucking things of all time”.
He added that he’s “not the guy to get political information from”.
Kennedy is a member of a famous Democratic family: his father was Robert F Kennedy, the US attorney general and New York senator who was killed in Los Angeles in 1968, his uncle John F Kennedy, the 35th president who was killed in Dallas in 1963.
Now 70, Kennedy first ran for the Democratic presidential nomination before switching to be an independent.
He has struggled to gain ballot access and polling now gives him about 5% support: nowhere near enough to win the White House but enough to tip the result in battleground states that will decide a tight election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Last week, Rogan said he thought Harris could win, adding: “I’m not saying it because I think she’s going to, and I’m not saying it because I want her to. I’m just being honest. I could see her winning.”
Kennedy has flirted with backing Trump, the two men reportedly discussing a cabinet role for Kennedy – as secretary for health and human services.
On Friday, Trump seemed displeased by Rogan’s decision to endorse Kennedy.
“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform, referring to a shared interest in professional mixed martial arts.
