Joe Rogan blasts life in Hollywood for 'fake' people and 'groupthink' politics
Podcaster Joe Rogan doesn't have fond memories of his life in Los Angeles, saying on his show, Friday, he has no nostalgia for the left-wing and superficial people he met there.
Rogan spoke with actor and musician Luke Grimes about the whirlwind trajectory of his career, including UFC and acting.
"So once it happened, I mean, it was just such a huge part of my life. I was like, 'I'm not going to not do this just because it's bad for my acting career.' I'm like, 'If my acting career goes away, I don't, you know, whatever. I'm only doing this for money anyway.' So I was like, 'I'll just figure it out,'" Rogan said with a laugh.
"You were the only person in LA with that mentality, by the way," Grimes replied. "That really served you well."
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"I was fully ready to get out of there. I was like, ‘I got to get the f--- out of this place,’" Rogan said. "I hated it. I hated being around actors. I hated being around producers and casting agents. I was like, ‘These people are so fake.’"
He added, "I was used to being around fighters and comedians and pool players — like the rawest, funniest outcasts of society. Those were my people. I was used to cracking jokes with friends and everybody, like, busting on each other and everybody had a great sense of humor, just silly weirdos."
But in the entertainment industry, however, he said, "All of a sudden I’m around these people that all had these predetermined things that they thought they should say, so they would say them, you know, and everybody had like- it was all groupthink. It was like, ‘Oh, this is f---ing horrible.’"
Rogan is one of many celebrities who have some liberal positions, but have spoken out against the far-left dogmatism in places like Hollywood.
As an actor, Grimes said L.A. has been good to him, but nonetheless he picked up on the idea that "Everybody was trying to become the same person, but they don't know who that person is." He joked that it felt as if he had not gotten the memo to do so.
Rogan quipped, "Nobody got that memo. They were all playing it by ear, you know, and it was all dependent upon what the producers and the casting agents wanted you to be."
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"Whenever you got a place where everybody has the same politics, that's not a good sign," Rogan said. "… Something's gone wrong, and everybody has these progressive left-wing politics regardless of whether or not any of their positions make sense. They all just sort of spit it out."
Grimes noted that people who leave their families and hometowns for the dream of making it big in the entertainment industry become deeply invested in success at all costs, to the point they can be entirely reshaped to fit in.
"Oh for sure, it ruins comics," Rogan agreed, who had been a stand-up comedian himself. "Because when comics start doing well, one of the first as soon as they start getting on television, the first thing they start doing is tempering their material. They tone it down a little bit, take the edge off, don't say anything that can get you in trouble."