Joe Rogan has been seen laughing as a co-host described how he sexually exploited young women at a comedy club, in a resurfaced video.
The podcast host was interviewing fellow comedian Joey “Coco” Diaz in 2011 when the allegations of sexual coercion were made by Diaz.
Mr Rogan laughed as Mr Diaz revealed how he encouraged female comedians to “to suck my d***” because it was a “gateway” into Hollywood.
“How many girls did you have do that?” asked Mr Rogan of the behaviour described at the Comedy Store in west Hollywood.
“Ah, 20 of them,” Mr Diaz told Mr Rogan, who laughed repeatedly throughout.
“I had this little blonde open mic chick dog that used to come up to the Comedy Store with a 20 and take me up to the Belly Room and suck my d*** then go do her set....She was tremendous,” said Mr Diaz.
He added that “she finally freaked out when she got to Hollywood” and described the woman as being “beautiful” and that she “had dirty f****** nails” before leaving the Comedy Store.
He also claimed that she wrote to him saying he had “broke her”, while The Joe Rogan Experience on which the remarks were aired in 2011 – failed to challenge the allegations.
More than 200,000 people have since viewed the footage on Twitter after it was shared by critics of Mr Rogan, who at the weekend was forced to apologise for another viral video in which he used the “N” word, a racial slur.
The week beforehand, the podcast host was forced to take a week-long hiatus from Spotify amid allegations that his podcast has allowed Covid misinformation go unchallenged.
The music platform later promised to put a label on possible Covid misinformation and in a message to staff on Sunday, described the racist language attributed to Mr Rogan as “incredibly hurtful” but went as far as defending the podcast host – who CEO Daniel Ek refused to silence.
“Here’s Joe Rogan in 2011, laughing hysterically during a discussion about coercing young women into performing oral sex,” wrote Caroline Orr Bueno, a behavioural scientist who shared the resurfaced clip featuring Mr Diaz. “It’s hard to watch, to be honest.”
Another Twitter user added: “I remember the first time I heard about this. It came out when the #MeToo movement first started to rev up. I wondered why it wasn’t getting much attention, I assumed it’s because Joey Diaz isn’t that famous. I think he’s pretty famous in the comedy world though.”
The Independent has approached Spotify, the Comedy Store, Joe Rogan and Joey Diaz for comment.
