Joe Rogan has responded to nasty comments from ABC chairman Kim Williams, who launched a brutal tirade against the podcasting giant.
Williams claimed Rogan “preys on people’s vulnerability” and was “not a consumer or enthusiast” of his work while speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
‘They prey on fear. They prey on all the elements that contribute to insecurity in society, and they employ fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as a normal part of the social narrative,” he said.
“Personally, I find it deeply disgusting to think that anyone has such remarkable power.”
A clip of Williams’ comments was shared on social media platform X, where Rogan replied “LOL WUT” in a post seen by more than 8.4 million users.
The platform’s owner, Elon Musk, similarly criticized the ABC boss.
“From the head of the Australian government-funded media, their Pravda,” Musk said
Pravda is the former official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which still operates in the Russian Federation.
ABC chairman Kim Williams (pictured) claimed people like Joe Rogan ‘prey on people’s vulnerabilities’
The influential podcast host responded to the comments on X saying ‘LOL WUT’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the ABC for comment.
Williams’ comments come after Rogan told his audience he would not move to Australia because the country was placing people in ‘concentration camps’ for ‘colds’ during Covid lockdowns.
The podcaster said he had once considered Australia a viable alternative to the US, but had since changed his mind.
“I used to think about Australia, but when I saw how they handled the pandemic I thought, ‘oh f**, that’s what happens when no one has guns,’” he said.
“Yeah, the army just comes in and tells you what to do and puts you in concentration camps because you have a cold, like it’s crazy.”
During the Covid pandemic, Australia has quarantined people arriving in the country for weeks before allowing them to enter the community.
Most were housed in hotels, but some were also housed in temporary isolation camps.
Australia’s specialist national quarantine facility, Howard Springs on the outskirts of Darwin, housed around 64,000 people for a mandatory two-week isolation period.
Social media platform owner Elon Musk (pictured) also took aim at Williams and the ABC, which he compared to ‘Pravda’, the former official newspaper of the USSR
Opponents of the quarantine arrangement called the Howard Springs center a “concentration camp.”
The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast on Spotify with 14.5 million followers.
Rogan signed a $200 million deal with the streaming giant in 2020.
His interview with Donald Trump was cited as a key factor in deciding this month’s election, with the Republican candidate’s vote among young men — the core of Rogan’s audience — reaching new highs.
Williams, who took over as chairman of the ABC in March, has since criticized his own journalists over the quality of the news they produced.
He said in August that the national broadcaster was producing too much news and current affairs programs that were “filler and boring”.
“We sometimes have a tendency to go to what is more representative of the tabloid sensibility than what I would consider national responsibility.”
He inherited a “severely depleted” broadcaster and largely blamed a lack of funding for the demise of the ABC – specifically a 13.7 percent reduction during the coalition government’s time in power.
He has also had to deal with staff in Sydney who grumbled about a shift from its headquarters near the CBD to an office in Parramatta.
The move towards ‘modernisation’ is widely regretted by ABC staff, with the 25-minute commute from the city center creating logistical problems.
The ABC plans to move around 300 staff to the new site, a project that will cost $39 million, to improve services in the western suburbs – which Williams has called “the fastest growing residential region in the country”.