Jack White Trashes Joe Rogan

Musician Jack White lashed out at Joe Rogan following the podcast powerhouse's interview with actor Terrence Howard.

In an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience that went live over the weekend, Empire star Howard spoke at length about his lifelong interest in physics and challenged the foundations of the science as he touted various theories.

Howard criticized the basis of principles like event horizon and gravity, saying that basing beliefs on straight lines instead of waves and curves has distorted any true understanding.

He also stated that the universe is finite rather than infinite and that planets in our solar system are slowly moving away from the sun, with Venus on course to eventually take Earth's place. Howard, who told Rogan that he holds 97 patents, went on to praise the host for his stance against taking the COVID-19 vaccines.

"You took a bold stand years ago when the governments were trying to poison their citizens," Howard, who previously spoke about inventing "a new form of flight," told Rogan. "You took a very bold stand that nobody else took. That's when I was like, 'Wow, I appreciate you,' because I lost three, four jobs because I refused to take it."

"I bet you feel better about it now," Rogan responded, "especially when you know all these people that have had health problems because of it."

On Sunday, White took to Instagram to protest the interview, which, as of press time, had garnered more than 2 million views on YouTube alone.

"Hey everyone, just a reminder you should definitely be getting your facts about science and medicine from Terence Howard and Joe [Rogan]," the former White Stripes rocker wrote on Sunday. "I wouldn't waste any time trusting scientists or [doctors] who went to universities etc. for 12 years getting a PHD or anything."

"Nor should you trust anyone who understands what peer reviewing is etc," White continued. "[It's] really great that MMA Joe uses his platform in front of millions to make sure everyone gets the truth. Keep up the great work [MAGA] Joe, you're HELPING people!"

Newsweek reached out to representatives of Rogan, Howard, and White via email for comment.

Elsewhere during his appearance on Rogan's show, Howard said that his first memory is when he was "about maybe 6 months inside [his mother's] womb."

"You go to sleep, wake up again, and now something's moving in front of you, and you're like, 'Oh, that's my hand.' But I had a different name for it," he explained. "I didn't know it was my hand but I had a title for it. Go back to sleep, all of those things, and then ultimately, you get ready to come out. I remember all of that."

In recent years, Rogan has faced repeated criticism amid accusations of circulating COVID-19 misinformation on his popular show. The backlash led 270 scientists and health care professionals to publish a letter in January 2022 calling on Spotify to take action against the spread of misinformation on its platform.

Spotify responded to the medical professionals' request by saying it would publish its platform policy regarding the promotion of medical information and "add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19."

While Rogan had defended his "very highly credentialed, highly intelligent, very accomplished" podcast guests Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone, who were accused of spreading COVID misinformation at the time, he also vowed to add more balance to his show.

He said in a video shared on Instagram amid the backlash: "If there's anything I've done that I could do better, that is to have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones. I would most certainly be open to doing that.

"I would like to talk to some people that have differing opinions on those podcasts in the future. We'll see. I do all the scheduling myself. I don't always get it right."

Rogan told his listeners: "My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people's perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.

"I don't want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions, so that we can all figure out what's going on—and not just about COVID, about everything. About health, about fitness wellness, the state of the world itself."