Joe Rogan under fire for Olympics vs UFC fighter pay stance
YouTube/PowerfulJREJoe Rogan is being criticized for his contrasting stances on pay for athletes participating in the Olympics, and fighters for the UFC, with some calling the podcaster ‘hypocritical.’
The Joe Rogan Experience is without a doubt one of the biggest podcasts on the internet, with the show’s YouTube channel at over 10 million subscribers.
With Rogan also being a UFC commentator, he’s always quick to share his take on the latest news in the sporting scene. As the Olympics fast approach, he spoke about his stance on athletes and the IOC in episode 1681 of his podcast, touching on the controversial ban of sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.
“All the winners of the gold medals, all those people that are generating insane amounts of wealth for the Olympics, they should get a giant piece of that,” he said.
Speaking about the huge amount of money that the event generates, he added: “The networks are making it, and the IOC is making it and all these other people are making it and the athletes, the whole reason people are tuning in, they get nothing. It’s insane. It’s a disgusting, corrupt system.”
However, in a video uploaded to Reddit by Comrade-Bubba, clips of Rogan’s comments have been spliced with comments he’s made in the past on the UFC fighters in their ongoing battle for better payouts – a topic even Jake Paul has jumped on as well.
“The UFC has to be profitable,” he said. “In order to be sold to someone like WME, it has to be valuable. In order for it to be valuable, it has to be profitable. In order for it to be something that they can promote and get behind and make it as big as they’ve made it, there has to be some sort of pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for these people.”
He went on to add: “Like I said, I’m always for fighters getting paid more money but I just, I don’t know if that would ever work.”
Joe Rogan criticized for conflicting stance
Viewers praised the well-edited video and quickly shared their thoughts on Rogan’s comments.
“Are you telling me that Joe is inconsistent and his opinion shifts when it’s convenient for him?” one Reddit user wrote.
Others pointed out his ‘hypocrisy’ when it comes to the contrasting stances. “I haven’t listened to Rogan in a while,” they said. “Never really liked him as a personality. This is definitely one of his most hypocritical points. ‘The Olympics are disgusting’, yeah Joe, and the UFC is squeaky clean.”
Some also slammed him for not taking responsibility over his actions and his platform.
With the Olympics fast approaching, it’s likely that Rogan will have more to say on the topic as it progresses.
