Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan is being accused of ‘casually spouting anti-Semitism’ after trying to defend woke Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
The 55-year-old was decrying cancel culture in the most recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience when he denounced Republicans for booting the Democrat from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her past anti-Semitic statements.
He brought up a tweet from 2019, in which Omar spoke out against American support for Israel, saying: ‘It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.’
Omar has since apologized for the tweet and conceded that it was anti-Semitic – but Rogan said she should not have done so, claiming: ‘The idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous. That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza.’
Almost immediately afterwards, people took to social media to denounce his remarks, saying he was ‘casually spouting anti-Semitism.’
Podcaster Joe Rogan likened the trope that Jews are ‘into money’ to Italians liking pizza in the most recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience
Critics on Twitter accused him of ‘casually spouting anti-Semitism’ on Spotify
In the episode, which aired Saturday on Spotify, Rogan brought up the idea of cancel culture with his guests, Breaking Points journalists Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti when he made the controversial comments.
‘It’s just money, she’s just talking about money,’ the podcaster said, insisting: ‘That’s not an anti-Semitic statement. I don’t think it is.
‘Benjamins are money,’ he continued. ‘You know, the idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous. That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza. It’s f****** stupid, it’s f****** stupid.’
At that point, Ball — the progressive commentator on Breaking Points — agreed that Omar ‘shouldn’t have apologized’ for the tweet, while conceding that the Democrat from Minnesota ‘could have phrased it a different way so that people would have less of a freak out.
‘But can you not talk about the influence of money in DC?’ she asked. ‘I mean, there’s a very obvious reason why for my entire life there’s been a uni-party consensus vis-à-vis the Israeli government.’
She added that money is behind supporting Israel ‘just like every other f***** interest in DC’ and went on to praise Omar for ‘calling out hypocrisy’ in US foreign policy.
‘It’s actually kind of a real loss that she got kicked off that committee.’
Rogan later agreed, saying that ‘whether you agree or not,’ Omar shared ‘a bold opinion. And that opinion is not her own — there’s many people that have that opinion and they should be represented.’
Rogan said woke Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, should not have apologized for a 2019 tweet in which she spoke out against American support for Israel, saying: ‘It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.’ She has since been removed from her position on the House Foreign Affairs committee
Almost immediately after the clip aired, people condemned Rogan’s remarks
Rogan has since been accused of anti-Semitism for his remarks, with one Twitter user asking Spotify directly whether it was ‘happy’ that it’s ‘multimillion dollar podcaster’ was ‘casually spouting anti-Semitism.’
UK comedian David Baddiel, who wrote a book about anti-Semitism entitled Jews Don’t Count, also accused Rogan of spreading a ‘racist myth’ on the show ‘with a big grin.’
‘I actually want to stop banging the Jews Don’t Count drum at some point, but hard to do when a racist myth about Jews is just… said breezily on one of the biggest podcasts in the world and no one gives a f***,’ he said.
‘For the hard of understanding “Jews are into money” is not like “Italians are into pizza.” Because unless my history lessons really missed something out, no one has exterminated a large section of the entire Italian community because of their love for pepperoni.’
Baddiel, who has written extensively about modern anti-Semitism, added: ‘Also Joe Rogan has a $200million deal with Spotify. And yet apparently it’s Jews who are into money.’
Alex Zeldin, a columnist for the Jewish daily newspaper the Forward, replied sarcastically: ‘Jews are the only people into money.
‘The rest of you with jobs for income and bills to pay and family to support aren’t into money and this isn’t at all a deranged point of view that gets Jews murdered.’
Another Jewish journalist also tweeted, ‘If only my relatives who were lined up and shot were so into money they’d had enough to escape the Nazis.’
Other notable Jewish people also spoke out about the comments, with Ian Haworth, a columnist for the DC Examiner writing that Rogan’s comparison of Jews liking money to Italians liking pizza ‘would make sense if Jews invented money and/or Italians had been massacred because of a conspiracy they control the world through pizza.’
Peter Beinart, the editor-at-large of the Jewish Currents, also asked which ‘ethno-religious groups Joe Rogan thinks are not “into money,” and Ted Deutch, the CEO of the American Jewish Committee said Rogan has invoked ‘the same tropes that have been used to persecute Jews for centuries.
‘With an audience of millions, it’s dangerous to be so flippant in trafficking in anti-Semitic stereotypes,’ he wrote.
And Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Rogan’s remarks are ‘disturbing… at a time of rising anti-Jewish violence.’
Rogan has not yet responded to the backlash.
But he had said earlier in Saturday’s episode that he had long ago stopped ‘paying attention to the comments’ on his show even though he could miss out on constructive criticism.
‘Look, I love you guys,’ the podcaster told his audience. ‘I’m just not reading your s***.’
DailyMail.com has also reached out to Rogan and Spotify for comment.