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Joe Rogan Criticized for Sharing Fake Photo of Steven Seagal Joining Russian Forces

Joe Rogan again found himself in hot water after he shared a false CNN headline which claimed that Steven Seagal joined Russian special forces.

“If I had to guess the plot of this f–ked up movie we’re living through I would say we are about 14 hours from the arrival of the aliens,” wrote Rogan in a since-deleted Instagram post. Along with the caption, the disgraced podcaster shared a screenshot with a picture of Seagal and the headline: “Intelligence agencies around the world have spotted American actor Steven Seagal among Russian special forces positioned around the outskirts of Gostomel airfield near Kyiv captured by Russian airborne troops.”

Unfortunately for Rogan–but fortunately for the world at large–the picture was false. In fact, the photo is actually a screenshot from the 2016 film Sniper. Fans didn’t exactly let the mistake slide. After all, it’s not Rogan’s first experience with sharing misinformation.

“This is obviously photoshopped though,” wrote one critic. “I may be a beluga whale but I do make memes for a living so I like to think I can detect a meme with my sonar.”

Another asked if Rogan thought he was living in Tropic Thunder 2. However, one commenter pointed out that comedic posts about a tragic circumstance such as the Russo-Ukrainian War are in bad taste. That is, even for a comedian such as Rogan.

“I am so ashamed of you Joe Rogan,” they wrote. “You go on and post about alien invasions and living in movies, but when actual tragedy starts with real people dying you are silent. When a real monster needs to be stopped, you do nothing. Is it because you actually are not so ‘objective’ and ‘curious’, but you are definitely brainwashed for good. Speak up! Condemn atrocities! You have a huge platform. Act like a leader and stop posting irrelevant stuff making it all look like a joke. It’s not.”

Joe Rogan Responds to His Attempted Cancellation

As mentioned, this is hardly the first time someone called out Joe Rogan. The comedian became the center of a controversy after spreading misinformation about the pandemic on his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. Even so, he addressed the criticisms as unfounded.

“I talk s— for a living — that’s why this is so baffling to me,” said Rogan. “If you’re taking vaccine advice from me, is that really my fault? What dumb s— were you about to do when my stupid idea sounded better? ‘You know that dude who made people eat animal d—- on TV? How does he feel about medicine?’ If you want my advice, don’t take my advice.”

On another occasion, he went so far as to call the cancellation “a political hit job.”

This, of course, came after detractors criticized him for past use of racial slurs. Rogan explained: “I used to say it if [I was talking about] a Richard Pryor bit or something, I would say it in context. Somebody made a compilation of every time I said that word over 14 years and they put it on YouTube, and it turned out that was racist as f—. Even to me! I’m me and I’m watching it saying, ‘Stop saying it!’ I put my cursor over the video and I’m like, ‘Four more minutes?!’ I haven’t used that word in years. But it’s kind of weird people will get really mad if you use that weird and tweet about it on a phone that’s made by slaves.”

“They’re taking all this stuff I’ve ever said that’s wrong and smushing it all together. It’s good because it makes me address some stuff that I really wish wasn’t out there,” he added.

Whether or not Rogan will take this lesson at face value and consider his words more carefully remains to be seen. Either way, it seems that Spotify has no intention of getting rid of him.