Joe Rogan has officially apologized to Theo Von after receiving backlash for comments he made about his longtime friend’s mental health on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. The controversy began after the UFC commentator talked about Theo Von’s antidepressant use and emotional struggles while speaking to musician Marcus King on his podcast. During that exchange, the UFC commentator brought up a tough period in Von’s life, including a moment from a shelved Netflix comedy special filming in which the comic told a crowd he was “trying not to take my own life.”
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Those comments immediately went viral online, prompting many fans to accuse Joe Rogan of publicly revealing extremely personal issues without Theo Von’s consent. The comedian himself responded on X, dismissing the portrayal entirely.
“This is mostly 🧢 (cap),” he wrote on X. “Sad to see this kinda stuff. I’m doing great. I’m a human being, which is a rocky ride. But I’m doing fine, thanks.”
Now, the JRE host has admitted that he handled the situation very poorly. Speaking on his podcast, he said that he personally called Theo Von to apologize for publicly putting him in that position.
“I called him up and I said, ‘I’m so sorry; I didn’t even think of that,'” he said on his podcast. “And that’s very selfish of me. I didn’t think that you would have to respond. I didn’t even think of it.
“But Theo is one of my favorite people. He’s a very unusual and very amazing person. The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt that guy. And the last thing I’d ever want to do is say something that would have people think about him in a negative way, which I’m sure I did. And this is one of the reasons why I wanted to make this video. And I wanted to apologize.”
Joe Rogan confessed that the clips that circulated online made it appear that he was throwing his friend under the bus, and that the public’s criticism of him was legitimate.
Joe Rogan says he called Theo Von to apologize for his comments last week where he voiced concern for Von’s mental health. Rogan admitted he did a huge “disservice” to Von and it came across as though he was “throwing his friend under the bus.” ROGAN: “Then it comes out, like Show more
“When I feel, you know, having that conversation with Marcus and not doing a good job, and just sort of selfishly explaining Theo’s situation, and not even knowing the context of that thing, I felt like I did a huge disservice to my friend, and also to people listening,” he said.
Especially in this clips environment, where people are getting things from clips, you’d see that, and you go, oh, you f—— a——, like, what are you doing? You’re throwing your friend under the bus. And if you’re upset at that, you’re right. Like, I’m upset at me.”
The entire incident has revived debates about mental health, anti-depressants, and how public figures discuss all this online. At the heart of it all, however, appears to be a friendship that Joe Rogan clearly regrets putting under public scrutiny.
He repeatedly stated that Theo Von is still one of his favorite people, and he admitted he hadn’t considered how large the podcast clips would appear when taken out of context. But the damage seems to be done, and it would be interesting to see how Von responds.
However, the confession about Theo Von wasn’t the only controversial thing said by Joe Rogan that made news lately.
Joe Rogan says he hates UFC stars calling for bonuses
Joe Rogan’s entire fighter compensation talk sounded weird given his decades-long association with the UFC. Still, the JRE host explicitly said that he hated seeing fighters publicly beg for bonuses after fights.
“I hate all of it,” he said on his podcast. “I hate people that have to ask for bonuses. You know, look, the money is there, right? We know the money’s there. This is a $7 billion deal. I’m not a businessman, I’ll say that right now.
“Listen, all this is hippie talk. But, I feel like if I owned the UFC, I would not feel good if people didn’t feel compensated correctly. This is just my feeling, and I’m not a good businessman. If you want to be a good businessman, you’ve got to make the most money possible.”
Ironically, these words came just days after Ronda Rousey openly complimented MVP MMA’s pay system ahead of her Netflix return. ‘Rowdy’ claimed that every fighter on the card would receive at least $40,000, reigniting the never-ending dispute over UFC fighter pay.
Joe Rogan’s words only added fuel to the fire because, while he has long defended the promotion, he also seems to understand why fighters continue to publicly demand bonuses in the first place. Despite that, he still hates seeing that getting voiced.
