Gavin Newsom has escalated his long-running feud with Joe Rogan, calling the influential podcaster an “a**hole” during a newly recorded episode of his own show.
The 58-year-old California governor made the remark Monday while taping his podcast, adding another sharp jab to the back-and-forth between the two men.
The moment came after guest Michael Fanone criticized Rogan and took aim at the entire concept behind The Joe Rogan Experience.
“You don’t need the Joe Rogan of the left. F*ck Joe Rogan, that guy is an assh*le,” said Fanone, the former Washington, DC, metro police officer who helped defend the Capitol during the January 6, 2021, riot.
“He is an a**hole. Thank you,” Newsom replied, leaning back in his chair as he agreed with the assessment.
Newsom had already gone after Rogan, 59, on July 21, calling him a “chicken” yet again and complaining in a post on X that the podcaster still will not “have [him] on.”
His press team made a similar attack in May, using all-caps language reminiscent of Donald Trump to write: “‘Little Guy’ Joe Rogan is too scared to have me on, but he wont stop talking about me.”
Newsom continued by claiming Rogan was fixated on his “good looks,” a remark that came one day after he reshared an old clip in which Rogan dismissed him in 2023 as a poor choice for the then-approaching 2024 election.
Gavin Newsom, 58, called Joe Rogan an ‘idiot’ on his podcast Monday, agreeing with a guest
The two men have been trading barbs since October, after years of Rogan criticizing California’s politics
‘Nobody wants President Newsom either. Nobody believes in that guy. That guy’s a f**king con man,’ Rogan said at the time.
‘I mean, everything he did in California, from trying to mandate vaccines for kids when it was totally unnecessary to being caught out in public without a mask and lying about the fact that he was outdoors. All of it.
‘It’s just, nobody believes in the guy. He’s just a politician, just a stone-cold, narrative-driven politician, you know, and nobody thinks he’s a real human.’
Newsom’s press team, now potentially preparing for an actual presidential run, reacted on April 30, again in all caps: ‘Joe “Little Guy” Rogan is too chicken to have me on his failing podcast because he know I’d crush him, so he takes cheap shots from the peanut gallery as he gets relegated to irrelevancy.
‘All talk, no action. I’m ready when you are, “Little Guy.” Or keep hiding!!!!’
Rogan, meanwhile, has made his disdain for Newsom known for years. He left California for Austin, Texas, in 2020 due to the state’s politics. Newsom has been governor since 2019.
Newsom responded to Rogan’s longtime criticism for the first time in an X post in October, while sharing a clip of the podcaster insisting ‘he wants to be president so bad.’
Newsom wrote: ‘Joe Rogan is too [chicken] to have me on his show and expose his listeners to the truth, so I’ll put it here,’ roughly a year after Donald Trump sat with Rogan before his election win.
Newsom has relentlessly tried to reserve a spot on Rogan’s show – as Trump did days before his 2024 election win – to little avail
‘California is: – 4th largest economy in the world – #1 in manufacturing – #1 in farming – #1 in new business starts. – #1 for tech and VC investments – #1 for Fortune 500 companies – #1 public higher education I could continue… invite me on any time.’
Days later, Rogan was asked about having Newsom on by Andrew Schulz, one of the ‘man-o-sphere’ comics widely credited with helping Trump win over Kamala Harris.
‘There is a fun version where you just do it and cook him, you know?’ Schulz said at the time.
‘He’ll cook himself. I mean, that seems to be already happening,’ an unconvinced Rogan said, panning Newsom’s X strategy.
‘It’s just stupid. It’s like, this is a bad strategy.
‘Like, I probably would have had him on. But now I’m like, no, what are you doing?’
Rogan went on to welcome Vice President JD Vance to his show in July. Many have pegged Vance as the likely pick for the GOP nomination.
Journalist Aaron Rupar joked in June that Vance, 42, was ‘auditioning to be a Fox host’ following an appearance on The Five.
‘Makes sense. JD is going to need a job in 2028 since he won’t be president,’ Newsom replied at the time.
Both Vance and Newsom have yet to declare a run for the White House.
