Joe Rogan says a man who had recently appeared on his podcast was later accused of carrying out a horrifying New York City murder in which the victim was allegedly decapitated.
Rogan made the claim on Wednesday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” while speaking with physician Zach Bush. During a broader discussion about sociopaths in society, the host referred back to his 2024 interview with Sheldon Johnson, who has since been charged in connection with a grisly Bronx killing.
“We had a guy in the studio that cut a guy’s head off after the podcast. He killed a guy and cut his head off,” the UFC commentator said.
The 58-year-old podcaster said Johnson had joined civil rights attorney Josh Dubin on the program. Dubin, executive director of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, works on behalf of people believed to have been wrongfully convicted. Rogan said Johnson had been seated directly across from him only weeks before the alleged killing.
“He does the podcast and then afterward goes and visits this guy that apparently he had a beef with, kills him, cuts his head off, puts him in a [suitcase], like puts a wig on, and tries to escape in the hallway through the cameras,” Rogan said.
Johnson, who at the time was working with Dubin as a criminal justice activist, was arrested in March 2024 after police discovered a human torso inside a blue bin and a head hidden in a freezer at the Bronx apartment of 44-year-old Colin Small, the NYPD previously told The Post.
Officers had first been called to the building for a wellness check after neighbors reported hearing gunshots and spotting an unfamiliar person repeatedly entering and leaving the apartment with cleaning supplies, according to the building superintendent.
Disturbing surveillance video allegedly showed Johnson stepping out of a sixth-floor elevator, looking around the hallway, then walking toward the apartment and going inside.
He was later seen leaving the apartment at around 2 a.m. carrying a blue bin — after being spotted with a mop and a bag filled with cleaning supplies.
Johnson then allegedly returned to the crime scene wearing a blond wig and different clothing.
When investigators zeroed in on Johnson and searched his Harlem apartment, they discovered a human arm, legs and a head with a gunshot wound stored in the freezer, according to CNN.
Johnson was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon and concealment of a human corpse. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the time of his appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Johnson was working as a client advocate at the public defender’s office in Queens — having been released from prison in 2019 after serving 25 years for a series of armed robberies committed in 1999.
Johnson — who claimed he was once a member of the Bloods gang — was arrested and sentenced to a maximum of 50 years for using a gun to rob several men who owed him drug money.
While in prison, the accused killer said he decided to “turn his life around” and got his GED.
“I made the decision that I was going to walk away and I didn’t care about what the consequences was,” he told Rogan. “And I said to myself, ‘I’ve been doing bad for so long. I’m going to try to do something good.’”
During the interview, Johnson spoke about his personal transformation and his work in criminal justice reform after being released from prison.
