Joe Rogan breaks silence on Jimmy Kimmel suspension, says government shouldn't dictate what comedians can say Lauren HuffSeptember 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM 0 Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC via Getty; Michael Loccisano/Getty Joe Rogan and Jimmy Kimmel, both photographed in August Joe Rogan is finally weighing in...
- - Joe Rogan breaks silence on Jimmy Kimmel suspension, says government shouldn't dictate what comedians can say
Lauren HuffSeptember 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM
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Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC via Getty; Michael Loccisano/Getty
Joe Rogan and Jimmy Kimmel, both photographed in August
Joe Rogan is finally weighing in on ABC's decision last week to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live over remarks the host made about the "MAGA gang" response to the death of Charlie Kirk.
"I definitely don't think that the government should be involved, ever, in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue," the comedian and podcaster, who attributed his initial silence on the matter to an off-the-grid hunting trip, said on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience on Tuesday.
Rogan, who praised Kimmel as "a good guy," "a smart guy," and "a funny guy," also addressed conservatives who cheered the suspension.
"The companies, if they're being pressured by the government — so if that's real — and if people on the right are like, 'Yeah, go get 'em' — oh, my God, you're crazy," Rogan said. "You're crazy for supporting this. Because this will be used on you."
He continued, "You don't think that the f---ing globalist lizard people who run the world are sitting here going: 'Great, what do we got — three years? We'll wait this out. We'll wait this out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let them say the government should be involved in censoring people's speech.'"
It appears that Rogan's podcast was taped before Disney announced on Monday that Kimmel will be returning to air Tuesday, almost a week after Disney-owned ABC first pulled his late-night program over the host's comments.
"Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country," Walt Disney Company said in a statement Monday.
The company added, "It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday."
Disney/Randy Holmes
Jimmy Kimmel on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'
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Still, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the largest owner of ABC affiliate stations in the country, also said on Monday that it is planning to not air the series when it returns. Fellow media group Nexstar announced it was joining Sinclair in this decision on Tuesday.
Kimmel made the comments in question during last Wednesday's monologue, in which he said, "We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize [Kirk's suspected killer] as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it."
On his podcast, Rogan remarked that Kimmel's comment "wasn't accurate," but he defended it as a setup to a joke.
"I think what he was trying to do was just set up a joke. He was trying to knock on the MAGA people, but also set up a joke, which was good," Rogan said. "It was very funny."
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