Joe Rogan Gives Emotional Apology to Friend Theo Von: ‘That’s Terrible What I Did’

Joe Rogan’s podcast episodes typically wrap up as an interview with a guest ends, but the podcaster added an emotional bookend to his latest episode.

In Tuesday’s edition of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan addressed controversy around recent talk on the podcast about his friend Theo Von and the comedian’s struggles with depression. Rogan’s address came after his interview with billionaire Marc Andreessen.

“So I wanted to do this because…well, number one, because I feel bad. And whenever I feel bad about something, and I felt bad about it all weekend, I feel like I have to address this,” Rogan said.

He brought up a recent episode with musician Marcus King where the discussion turned to antidepressants as King opened up about his own struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. Rogan brought up Von, saying the comedian’s past use of antidepressants “freaks” him out.

“Sad to see this kinda stuff,” Von wrote in response to the discussion on X. “Im doing great. Im a human being which is a rocky ride. But im doing fine thanks.”

Rogan had specifically brought up a video of Von from 2025 in which he told an audience member, “I’m trying not to take my own life.”

“I certainly shouldn’t have brought that up in that context and I probably shouldn’t have brought it up, period,” Rogan said.

He also noted the context of the video, which is that Von was taping a special that was not going well and the person asked him to make a video for suicide prevention.

Rogan said he has spoken to Von directly and apologized.

The podcaster also brought up a recent episode he did with Von in April in which Rogan told Von he was losing his mind as he opened up about the effects videos out of Gaza were having on him. Rogan noted some critics have accused him of “covering for Israel” by pushing back on Von, but he argued he was only concerned for his friend’s well-being.

“It’s my fault. It’s clunky and I was just trying to talk him off the ledge,” he said.

Rogan explained:

I apologized to Theo. He knows I love him and he said that and we laughed and we joked around about it and I apologized for the way I talked about this. But I felt like I needed to explain to other people too, to get what was going on in my mind out and it certainly wasn’t like covering for Israel and it wasn’t trying to paint him out like he’s damaged or treat him like a child. I just want him to be okay. And when you’re dealing with someone, or when you have had experience dealing with someone where it winds up going very badly, and then you’re just left with this feeling, like, what could I have done? You know, I didn’t do a good job of it, especially the Marcus King thing. That’s terrible what I did. I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to…you don’t think sometimes when you are in the middle of a podcast. You’re having a conversation, you don’t think about the impact that it’s gonna have. That’s one of the reasons why, you know, podcasts are so weird because like you’re in the middle of trying to be entertaining, but you’re also just having a conversation and I f**ked up because I felt so badly about it. It was like there’s got to be a way to address this where I just express myself and so that’s why we’ve never done this before. We’ve never done this kind of a thing after a podcast, but it was very important to me. He’s an awesome person, a great friend, and one of the most interesting and funny people I’ve ever met in my life. And I just felt terrible about it. And I told them I would never bring it up publicly again, but I think it is important to let people know that aspect of it. So I’m gonna call him and clear this with him and make sure he’s cool with me saying this, but I’m pretty sure he is gonna be. And that’s it… I’m a human and I’m flawed like all of us and I f**k up and it’s probably not the last time. It’s definitely not. I’m going to f**k up again. But my intention is never to hurt anybody, ever. And that’s why I mean I very rarely if ever even get upset at anyone other than like corrupt politicians. But I do my best to just try to be a good person, spread positivity.

Watch above via The Joe Rogan Experience (Rogan addresses the Theo Von controversy at 3:03:14).

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