Jon Stewart Defends Joe Rogan for Platforming ‘Nazi Curious’ Guests
Jon Stewart defended Joe Rogan for having guests on his show some would deem controversial, with The Daily Show star saying it’s “not enough to just complain” about it — if leftists don’t like, he said, they should beat Rogan at his “own game” and build their own mega-popular podcasts.
The topic came up during a conversation Stewart had with The New Yorker editor David Remnick, at the New Yorker Festival on Oct. 26; video of their conversation was later shared by the outlet on Friday. Stewart, when asked about going on Rogan’s show, said he “enjoyed” his time on The Joe Rogan Experience and found Rogan to be a “curious comic” and “interesting” interviewer.
“In fairness, he’s had people on who are kind of Nazi curious. That’s not good,” Remnick said.
Stewart immediately rejected the idea Rogan or anyone else should avoid talking to someone because of their political or social views.
“I’ve interviewed [Henry] Kissinger, like, and he was carpet bomb-curious,” Stewart fired back. “Like, I don’t know what to say.”
He started to argue it was “very easy to castigate” people for interviewing those with “corrosive” views before Remnick jumped back in.
“But the difference is, when he was carpet bomb-curious, you didn’t say ‘Oh yeah, that’s ‘awesome,'” Remnick said. “And what happens with Rogan sometimes is, he’ll hear somebody on the dangerous end of the spectrum, and he’ll just kind of soak it in.”
Remnick did not point to any specific examples or guests he took issue with.
Stewart said that is a “great point” — before saying it was not Rogan’s responsibility to police what his guests believe or have said.
“It’s whosever job who thinks that information is dangerous to fight to get their point of view out there to counter what they think is misinformation,” Stewart said. “You can’t just deputize people to say ‘He should have known better, and he should have prosecuted that point.'”
🔥 Jon Stewart Wrecks New Yorker Editor David Remnick for Whining About Joe Rogan
REMNICK: “He’s had people on who are kind of N*** curious. That’s not good.”
STEWART: “I’ve interviewed Kissinger. And he was carpet bomb curious.”
REMNICK: “But I don’t have the audience that… pic.twitter.com/N3X3wI2Jbd
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) November 1, 2025
Remnick said that job would fall on people like him or reporters at The New York Times, but he lamented his “audience” is nowhere near as big as Rogan’s.
“Then get it,” Stewart replied.
He continued to explain why he felt that was a bogus excuse, saying critics of Rogan and other podcasters should “beat them at their own game,” because complaining about platforming people in 2025 is a waste of time.
“There’s no one in this world right now that isn’t platformed,” Stewart said.
Rogan, in semi-related news, interviewed Elon Musk on Friday. Musk said that, had President Donald Trump not won the 2024 race, there “never would have been another real election” in the US.
Watch the full interview on The New Yorker’s YouTube channel here.
