Joe Rogan has been accused of “spreading Russian propaganda” by a Ukrainian champion boxer after he claimed the country’s leaders and the United States risked starting the Third World War.
On Friday’s episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the podcast host said Joe Biden’s decision to allow Kyiv to strike Russian territory with its long-range missiles was “nuts”.
Wladimir Klitschko, the former heavyweight world champion, challenged Rogan in a social media video message, saying that he was spewing “Putin’s propaganda” on his show.
“You talk about these American weapons that are being sent to Ukraine, which you believe will lead to the Third World War, you’re repeating Russian propaganda. Putin’s Russia is in trouble, so Putin wants to scare you and people like you,” Klitschko said.
Joe Rogan, left, is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump – Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
In an apparent reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Klitschko told Rogan, a vocal supporter of the president-elect, that Putin wanted to make America “not great, but quiet”.
“A great America is not an America that abandons countries that defend freedom with their lives,” Klitschko told the comedian and UFC commentator, before daring him to invite him on the podcast to chat “like free men”.
Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir’s older brother, is helping to defend the Ukrainian capital as mayor of Kyiv – Global Images Ukraine
Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir’s older brother, was also a professional boxer and is now the mayor of Kyiv. Both brothers are enlisted in Ukraine’s military reserves.
Rogan hit back at Mr Klitschko’s video, resharing it with the caption: “Does this make sense to anyone or just an attempt to get on the podcast?”
During the recent episode, Rogan admitted that it was “100 per cent wrong for Putin to invade Ukraine” but argued Mr Biden should not have been allowed to escalate a war after Americans had voted him out of office.
“Right now they’re launching missiles into Russia. How are you allowed to do that when you’re on the way out?” Rogan said. “The whole thing is nuts.”
“Zelensky says Putin is terrified. F— you, man. F— you, people. You people are about to start World War Three,” he added.
@Klitschko
Referring to Ukraine’s use of US and British-supplied long-range missiles in strikes last week, Rogan said that “the whole thing is a proxy war… it is f—— insane”, repeating the Kremlin narrative that Nato was using the conflict in Ukraine to fight a war against Russia.
The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, started in 2009, is the most popular audio show in the US, with an average of 11 million listeners each episode.
Mr Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, claimed last week that Mr Biden was specifically trying to incite a larger conflict before his father – who has repeatedly promised to end the war in Ukraine “in one day” – returns to office.
