California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) dared podcaster Joe Rogan on Thursday to have him on his show, arguing in the all-caps style of President Donald Trump that the “Joe Rogan Experience” host is “TOO CHICKEN” to do so.
Newsom reacted on his press office account to a resurfaced clip from an August 2023 episode in which Rogan slammed the governor’s COVID-19 policies and called the California Democrat a “fucking con man” and “a cardboard cutout of a person.”
“JOE ‘LITTLE GUY’ ROGAN IS TOO CHICKEN TO HAVE ME ON HIS FAILING PODCAST BECAUSE HE KNOW I’D CRUSH HIM, SO HE TAKES CHEAP SHOTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY AS HE GETS RELEGATED TO IRRELEVANCY,” Newsom wrote on Thursday. “ALL TALK, NO ACTION.”
He continued, “I’M READY WHEN YOU ARE, ‘LITTLE GUY.’ OR KEEP HIDING!!!!”
The governor is rumored to be planning a run for president in 2028 but has yet to formally launch his campaign. Rogan has long been a vocal critic of Newsom and famously left California for Texas in 2020 amid what he called “draconian” vaccine mandates.
“Nobody wants President Newsom, either,” he said in the resurfaced 2023 clip. “Nobody believes in that guy.”
Rogan continued, “That guy’s a fucking con man. I mean, everything he did in California, from trying to mandate vaccines for kids when it was totally unnecessary to being caught out in public without a mask and lying about the fact that he was outdoors. All of it.”
Newsom attended a friend’s birthday dinner in San Francisco during a spike in COVID-19 cases in late 2020. He apologized at the time, but described the dinner as having been outdoors before photos showed him sitting maskless at a crowded indoor table.
“He’s just a politician, just a stone-cold, narrative-driven politician, you know,” said Rogan in the clip. “And nobody thinks he’s a real human. Whether you like Trump or not, whether you think he’s corrupt or not, that’s a human being. You know what that guy is.”
Rogan continued, “Same thing with [Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]. Whether you believe that he’s correct about vaccines or whether you believe his policies would be effective, you know that’s a human being.”
“With Newsom, you get, like, this construct,” said Rogan. “This cardboard cutout of a person.”
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press
Rogan came under fire for his remarks about the COVID-19 vaccine in 2022 and was accused of promoting misinformation about the pandemic on his podcast, prompting Spotify to add content advisories on his episodes that discussed the virus, which has killed 7 million people.
Rogan endorsed Trump in the 2024 election and recently joined him in the Oval Office as Trump signed an executive order for the FDA to expedite the review of certain psychedelics. He has also criticized Trump over some issues, including the Iran war.
Newsom said in 2025 during an appearance on the “Higher Learning” podcast about Rogan, “He’s been attacking me for years and years and years and won’t have me on the show.”
The governor looked into the camera before continuing.
“Joe, why won’t you have me on the show?” Newsom asked. “He won’t have me on the show. It’s one way. And he has guests coming and attacking and bashing, but he will not have me on the show.”