Joe Rogan has stepped in to support Jimmy Kimmel amidst the controversy over a ‘joke’ that led to Kimmel’s suspension, criticizing the Trump administration as ‘crazy’ for targeting the late-night comedian.

On his podcast Tuesday, Rogan condemned Kimmel’s suspension for his remarks about Charlie Kirk as a violation of free speech, cautioning that those celebrating the suspension might face similar repercussions in the future.

Rogan, who had remained silent since Kimmel’s suspension, attributed his silence to being on an elk-hunting trip in the mountains. The podcast episode appeared to be recorded before the reinstatement of Kimmel’s show.

‘For starters, I absolutely believe that the government should never involve itself in dictating what a comedian is allowed to say in their monologue, it’s utterly insane,’ Rogan remarked to guest Andrew Santino.

‘The issue arises when companies feel pressured by the government – if that’s truly happening – and people on the right are like, “Yeah, get them,” it’s absurd to support that because the same tactics could be used against them.’

Rogan also defended the comments Kimmel made that him suspended.

‘It seems like he was just trying to craft a joke. He aimed to critique the MAGA supporters while setting up a punchline, which was well done and quite amusing,’ Rogan commented.

Last week, Kimmel had said during his monologue that the ‘MAGA gang’ was ‘desperately’ trying to distance itself from Kirk’s suspected assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.

The host also poked fun at Trump’s reaction to the shooting.

‘This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend,’ he said. ‘This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.’

Rogan correctly predicted Kimmel’s suspension would be brief, and that the host would be praised when he made his return.

‘Look, I certainly think that for Jimmy Kimmel, all this does is help him. It makes his show bigger. There’s much more support,’ the podcaster said.

‘I’m sure he’s there’s a lot of hate as well, which is not fun.    

‘But at the end of the day, if the show comes back, which this is my suspicion, my suspicion is they suspend it for a short amount of time and then they bring it back.

‘He comes back to a standing ovation. Donald Trump tweets mean s**t about him and then the world moves on.’

Rogan also called it ‘f*****g insane’ that Trump took the time out of his day to post on social media attacking Kimmel and other late-night hosts.

‘How do you have time while you’re running the world to be tweeting that you don’t like talk show hosts?’ Rogan said. ‘That is so crazy.’

Rogan – a well-known free speech advocate – endorsed Trump late last year but has broken with the president in recent months.

He has slammed the administration’s tariffs on Canada as ‘ridiculous’ and called its deportation policies ‘horrific.’ 

The clashes started in March, when Rogan used his podcast to rant about Trump imposing tariffs on Canada and his desire to make Canada the 51st state.

‘I can’t believe there is anti-American, anti-Canadian sentiment going on. It’s the dumbest f***ing feud,’ Rogan said during the March 14 episode. 

‘I just want America and Canada to get along, I think it’s ridiculous. And I don’t think they should be our 51st state.’

A week later, Rogan took things a step further, slamming Trump’s approach to the mass deportation of immigrants, after reports emerged that innocent people had been mistakenly rounded up and thrown into maximum security prisons in El Salvador alongside gang members and criminals.

‘You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to, like, El Salvador prisons,’ Rogan said. 

‘This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That’s horrific. And that’s, again, that’s bad for the cause.’ 

The recent clashes are a sharp contrast to the two men’s cozy alliance in the days leading up to the election, when Rogan welcomed both Trump and his former ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk onto his podcast.