Joe Rogan is a UFC color commentator and an established podcaster. Rogan was early to the game in 2009 after launching his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” on YouTube. Since then, the podcast has shifted to Spotify and turned into a massive hit, with millions of people tuning in weekly. Recently, Rogan revealed his ethnicity in one of the podcast episodes.

JRE #1843 featured Rogan alongside comedian Paul Virzi, in which the two discussed a cluster of topics. Rogan told a story about his grandmother in one segment, revealing his ethnicity. He said, “My grandmother went to jail for bookmaking.”

“Yeah, she was running numbers. And we would always go, ‘Where’s grandma? Oh, she’s visiting Aunt Murray.’ She was in jail, knitting for the guards. She wouldn’t say sh*t to anybody.” At this point, Virzi asked Rogan if he was Italian. Rogan replied, saying, “Yeah, mostly. Three-quarters Italian and one-quarter Irish.”

Virzi also asked Rogan if he was Sicilian, to which Rogan replied, “Mostly, yeah.” According to ‘ethnicelebs,’ Rogan’s maternal grandmother was Josephine Spadone, the daughter of Savino/Samuel Spadone and Genevieve/Jennie Anniziata. Rogan’s maternal grandfather was also from Italy.

Joe Rogan Is Related to Gerard Way

To everyone’s surprise, Rogan revealed that he was related to My Chemical Romance’s lead vocalist, Gerard Way.

In an episode with Kevin Smith (JRE #1372), Smith asked Rogan if he was related to Gerard Way. Rogan replied, “Yes, we’re related.” He explained that his grandmother, Josephine Spadone, was Gerard Way’s aunt. This shocked fans, as no one had expected the two celebrities to be related.

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Rogan also mentioned that the two had never spoken to or met each other in real life. Since Way’s aunt is Rogan’s grandmother, it would mean that the two are cousins. Smith mentioned how it was so rare for two individuals from the same family to become famous and successful.

Smith also recommended Rogan to invite Gerard Way on a future podcast, as he is very “fascinating” and the fact that the two stars were cousins. Although Rogan hasn’t invited his cousin yet, we might get to see it play out in the future.

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What are your thoughts on Joe Rogan’s ethnicity? Did you expect him to be mostly Italian? Let us know by dropping your opinions in the comments below.