Joe Rogan Experience #1865 - Aaron Rodgers

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0:04 The Joe Rogan Experience.

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Joe Rogan 0:12 So it's good to see you, man.

Aaron Rodgers 0:14 Good to see you, man. Thanks for having me on.

Joe Rogan 0:14 How are you doing? My pleasure. How you doing?

Aaron Rodgers 0:17 I'm doing great. Yeah, it's been a interesting, uh, year or so, but man, it's been, it's been a good year.

Joe Rogan 0:23 What was the, the craziness like? Like when all the people were calling you a plague rat and ... (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 0:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:31 I mean, it's, it's you and, uh, how do you say the guy's name? The tennis player?

Aaron Rodgers 0:35 Uh ...

0:36 Novak Djokovic.

Joe Rogan 0:37 Yeah, Djokovic. I mean, we talk about the healthiest human beings on earth, professional athletes.

Aaron Rodgers 0:43 He shouldn't play in the, in the US Open now-

Joe Rogan 0:44 Yeah. Yeah, I know.

Aaron Rodgers 0:45 ... because of this.

Joe Rogan 0:46 Which is bananas. The guy's already had COVID, recovered from it. I think he had it twice.

Aaron Rodgers 0:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:52 And he's one of the best athletes in the world. I mean, the guy's body's in tip-top condition.

Aaron Rodgers 0:57 Tennis players are in incredible fitness.

Joe Rogan 0:59 Incredible.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00 Yeah. And, "No, you can't come. You didn't follow the rules." Like, it, it's, uh, it defies science, defies logic. It doesn't make any sense. None of it makes sense, especially at this stage of the, the pandemic, air quotes. I mean, what the fuck, man?

Aaron Rodgers 1:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:17 What was it like for you?

Aaron Rodgers 1:18 It, it was, it was really difficult, for sure, and a lot of different reasons. I think ... I knew that this was coming down, that at some point I was gonna talk about my status, because I'd chosen to not get vaxxed, for reasons that you talked about, uh, on your show and I talked about on, on-

Joe Rogan 1:39 We should just say it, because, uh, it's kind of important. You, you're allergic to a medication, or, or, uh, a part of the vaccine.

Aaron Rodgers 1:49 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:49 What is it called?

Aaron Rodgers 1:50 PEG, polyethylene glycol. And, uh ... So I did my research. Um, I, I, now, I think f- typically speaking, because I'm healthy and I take care of myself, um, getting vaccinated was not on the top of my list. But, you know, I wanted to look into it because everybody was doing it and talking about it and, and trying to be safe, and I wanted to make sure I was, you know, doing my part if that's what was necessary to keep myself safe and my loved ones safe and my teammates safe. Then I, I looked into it, and at the time, I went on the CDC website and they specifically said, you know, "If, if you're allergic to PEGs, we do, we do not recommend you get vaccinated with the MRNA vaccinations." So, the only other one available was Johnson & Johnson, and it had just got pulled at the time for blood clots. So, I looked into other options, which included, uh, an immunization process through a holistic doctor, and I researched and talked to probably a dozen different MDs and found a protocol that I felt like was, was the best available.

Joe Rogan 3:03 And what is, uh, what, what's involved in that protocol?

Aaron Rodgers 3:05 It involved, um, basically, uh, a couple month process of taking a diluted, um, strand of the virus. So, I was doing basically what the vaccine is supposed to do without-

Joe Rogan 3:21 How did they do that?

Aaron Rodgers 3:23 I don't know the, the, the exact way that they did that, but, um, but it was-

Joe Rogan 3:28 It was by injection?

Aaron Rodgers 3:29 No. No, it was, it was, um, it was oral, and ...

Joe Rogan 3:35 How are they even getting a diluted strand of the virus?

Aaron Rodgers 3:39 I don't, I don't know that exactly or want to get into that exactly. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:42 Okay. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 3:42 I don't think. (laughs) But, um, but there was, uh, hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of people that I knew in this circle that, that were using, that had been doing this to protect ourselves, 'cause we were thinking, hey, look, um, you know, for me, I didn't want to risk anaphylactic shock, uh, or any type of clotting with, you know, especially with a vaccine. So, um, so my ... That was my only option. Either do nothing or do this process, and I felt like that this was

Aaron Rodgers 4:12 the best way to protect myself and my teammates, and that the NFL would understand, you know, and maybe grant me a waiver, because one of the most difficult parts about the whole process was that there was clearly two classes of player at the facility. There was the vaxxed and the unvaxxed, and the vaxxed had full privileges. Uh, they tested once every two weeks. They had full privileges on the road. They could go out to dinner on the road. They could go to a concert in town. They could go to a comedy show if it wa- if it was in town. They could be at any place they wanted to, right, and live life normally. Non-vaxxed, fully masked, zero privileges on the road, could not go into establishments more than 15 people. You could not be around more than, uh, three, uh, uh, three individuals from the team outside the facility. All these different, what I think now we all realize were crazy, uh, policies, and that's what actually got me in, into, into trouble, was that I attended a Halloween party in a 10,000 square foot warehouse with 18 other individuals, all fully vaccinated, and myself, not vaxxed, and was eventually fined for that, end up getting COVID from, uh, a vaccinated teammate of mine who contracted COVID and spread it. And that's where it gets a little bit crazy, and I, I told this story I think on the McAfee show, but I said when I came to camp, they knew I was not vaccinated. Right? So you had to, you had to submit a vaccination card. That went into the system with the NFL.... and obviously I didn't have one, so I was given, we were given wristbands too. So everybody in the facility knew who was vaxxed and who wasn't vaxxed. Vaxxed was green, non-vaxxed was yellow.

Joe Rogan 6:14 Oof.

Aaron Rodgers 6:15 So already it's weird-

Joe Rogan 6:17 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 6:17 ... you know, like, wearing your colors out there. And I think, you know, to, to do an aside here, there was a lot of shaming involved in it. There was a lot of public shaming that was attempted to coerce people to get vaccinated. Because not only are you wearing a yellow wristband, you're the only ones wearing masks, and you, you have to work out by yourself, can't work out with your teammates.

Joe Rogan 6:42 So no drills, nothing?

Aaron Rodgers 6:44 Well, you could at practice, but weight room stuff, our hour at weight room every day, we're working out on the side, just the seven of us not vaxxed.

Joe Rogan 6:53 Is it because practice is outside and the weight room's inside? Is it, was that-

Aaron Rodgers 6:56 Supposedly, yeah. But, so they knew my vaccination status from the start, um, as did all my teammates. There was a lot of talk about I endangered my teammates and, you know, I lied to my teammates or my team. From day one that I returned, which was July 25th probably of 2021, they knew where I was at. Everybody did. Also, on the side, I, uh, had an appeal going with the NFL, 'cause I said, "Look, here's my, uh, health issues. Here's the protocol I went through. Here's the research behind it." Gave them 500 pages of research from a number of people that put together, um, case reviewed studies around homeopathy and, uh, and immunizations and the safety in them and the, also the efficacy of them. And then I had a conversation with the league, and the league said in this conversation, this is when I knew that my appeal was definitely not gonna happen, was they said, "It's not possible for a vaccinated player, person," sorry, "to contract or transmit COVID if they've been vaccinated." And I said, "You gotta be kidding me, 'cause I showed up and five people, non-players, five people fully vaxxed are out with COVID. So what are you talking about?" And he said, "You're a conspiracy theorist."

Joe Rogan 8:21 Oh boy.

Aaron Rodgers 8:23 And I said, "No, I just think I'm a realist. I'm just looking at the facts here, like you just told me."

Joe Rogan 8:28 And what, what point in the pandemic was this?

Aaron Rodgers 8:30 This was, like, beginning of August 2021.

Joe Rogan 8:34 So by then they had already known that breakthrough infections were real? By then the, it had already, I mean, the, the vaccines started being rolled out, um, was it, when, what was the first year? It was January of 2020 where they started giving them to older people, right? Right, I'm sorry. January of 2021 rather. Yeah, yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 8:57 Sorry. January of 2021 they started giving it out to older people, wasn't that it? They started rolling them out in March and April, 'cause that's when I was going through the process of researching and looking into what I could do-

Joe Rogan 9:07 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 9:08 ... to protect myself having the, you know, the allergy that I had.

Joe Rogan 9:10 And by August people were still, they were already getting it?

Aaron Rodgers 9:14 Yes.

Joe Rogan 9:14 Even though they had been vaccinated. So this was not, you know-

Aaron Rodgers 9:19 It wasn't talked about, I don't think, a whole lot.

Joe Rogan 9:21 Right, but it was four months after-

Aaron Rodgers 9:22 But it was definitely happening, yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:23 So it was definitely happening, yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 9:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:25 I had only known one person at that time, somewhere around April, that had been vaccinated and also got COVID, and I just thought it was an aberration.

Aaron Rodgers 9:37 I didn't, based on what I saw in the first few weeks-

Joe Rogan 9:41 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 9:41 ... at the facility, and that's why I thought that there was an opportunity. Um, but it was difficult because we were separated. There was a whole other situation that was going on that, uh, you know, also was going on in, in, in the rest of society is that-

Joe Rogan 10:00 Uh-huh.

Aaron Rodgers 10:00 ... uh, my non-vaxxed teammates who were on the bubble, right? So 53 guys make the active roster, 16 on the practice squad, so there's 69 guys on the squad. There's 90 in camp, right? So of the, I said seven, I think it was about ten guys not vaxxed. Only a few of us were guaranteed roster spots, like we were gonna be on the team, and there was a lot of bubble guys. The general managers, and there was, there was talk around the league how general managers were not gonna keep bubble non-vaxxed players. Right? So they were already up against it. Not only did, did non-vaxxed players have a harder chance of making the squad, but they also had an almost 0% opportunity to get a workout afterwards. So if you get cut, right, and the season starts, every Tuesday during the football season most teams will bring in anywhere from five to 15 guys for workouts just to see who's out there, is there any players they can add to the roster. So if you weren't vaxxed, you had a very low percentage not just of keeping a job, but e- even getting a job opportunity, like a, a, you know, a workout, which is wild. And so after this conversation with the league I knew that my appeal was going away, and they were doing this, I called it a witch hunt, you know, where they were asking every single player, "Are you vaccinated?" You know, they were asking a bunch of big quarterbacks and some

Aaron Rodgers 11:30 guys were saying, you know, it's, you know, m- y- you know, it's personal or whatever, you know, didn't wanna talk about their status, and it almost guaranteed you weren't vaccinated, right? So then they were getting ripped and certain guys said, "Yes, I'm vaccinated." And you know, then they tried to get them to say shit about their teammates, you know, who weren't vaccinated, like dog their teammates out. So I had been ready the entire time for this question, and had thought about how I wanted to answer it. And I had come to the conclusion, I'm gonna say, "I've been immunized." And if there was a follow-up, then talk about my process. But thought there's a possibility that I'd say, "I'm immunized."... maybe they understand what that means, maybe they don't. Maybe they follow up. They didn't follow up. So then I go the season, them thinking, some of them, that I was vaccinated. Right? Because they fall- the only follow-up they asked was basically asking me to rip on my teammates. Like, "What do you say to your teammates who aren't vaccinated?" Like, "What kind of example do you feel like you're setting, you know, to your teammates who aren't vaccinated?" And I said, "It's everybody's own decision with their body, and we're super healthy individuals. We take care of ourselves, we understand what goes in our bodies, and I don't have any judgment on any decision that a guy makes with their own body," right? But I knew at some point, if I contracted COVID or if word got out, because it's the NFL and there's leaks everywhere, it was possible I'd have to answer the questions. And then sure enough, I contract COVID in, uh, well, the beginning of November, end of October, um, and that's when the shit storm hit. Because now I'm a liar, I'm in- you know, endangering, uh, you know, the community, my teammates-

Joe Rogan 13:15 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 13:15 ... all these people. And that, you know, the- you know, the- the attempted take-down of me and, you know, my word and my integrity, uh, began. But, um, so that was, that was difficult. But I will say, and I- and I'm thankful to be on this show. Like, I really appreciate you, and you helping me out during that time. I reached out to you, uh, I think beginning of the season, I feel like, and just said, "Hey." 'Cause you had talked about it on your podcast a little bit. You'd had some, um, you know, controversial, maybe less controversial now, um, people on there talking about-

Joe Rogan 13:51 Quite a bit less controversial now.

Aaron Rodgers 13:52 (laughs) Talking about their, uh, you know, their ex- people, experts in the field, talking about, you know, their own, uh, ideas about COVID. And- and, uh, and, you know, you helped me with a, uh, you know, a- a game plan to be ready in case I did get COVID. And- and I followed it to a T, and when I got COVID, you know, within 36 hours I was, you know, symptom-free and feeling amazing. But the protocols was you were off for 10 days. So I missed a game. We lost a football game. I came back, had to answer a ton of questions about it. Obviously, I had my, you know ... Basically, I lost, you know, the majority of allies I thought I had in the media. The good thing is, it drew a real line in the sand, and everybody who wanted to jump on me and- and trash me did and showed their true colors. And very few people, uh, you know, kind of in the media at least, uh, stuck by me.

Joe Rogan 14:55 Well, it was like McCarthyism at cert- at a certain point in time. It was, it was like a red scare. Like, everybody was looking for Communists. They were just looking for non-vaxxers.

Aaron Rodgers 15:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:05 There ... It was, it was like a fever in the air, because people had been convinced that this was the thing that was gonna get us out of the pandemic, and if you didn't follow that thing, that you were the enemy of it. So, I could kind of understand why people had that perspective if they hadn't looked into it, which is a weird term. Or at least if they hadn't, uh-

Aaron Rodgers 15:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:24 ... you know, it's a- it's kind of a-

Aaron Rodgers 15:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 15:26 ... shallow term. But if they hadn't, you know, consulted with real experts, especially in your case, that when you had an actual allergy. It was a- it's a particular issue. And the desire to not take the medication that was pulled for clots, that seems pretty fucking reasonable. But reason was out the window at that point in time.

Aaron Rodgers 15:48 Well, that's what was crazy to me, was people just saying, "Oh, just get the jab." You know, the Keith Olbermanns of the world. "Just get the damn jab." And I'm like ...

Joe Rogan 15:55 That guy is the gift that keeps giving.

Aaron Rodgers 15:57 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:57 He is fucking hilarious.

Aaron Rodgers 15:59 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:59 Unintentionally hilarious like he's a character in a movie. I love it. I hope he keeps talking.

Aaron Rodgers 16:06 But that was the- that was the sentiment. I'm like-

Joe Rogan 16:08 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 16:08 ... uh, anaphylactic shock. Uh, also, I'm super healthy and take care of myself really well and, oh, by the way, I just went from woke up, really bad symptoms, to 36 hours later, I feel great.

Joe Rogan 16:26 Yeah, no one wanted to hear that. No one wanted to hear that there was a way that you could get through it without being vaccinated, and that you would recover very quickly. No one wanted to hear that.

Aaron Rodgers 16:37 No.

Joe Rogan 16:37 And they were coming with all sorts of reasons why you- you shouldn't even say that.

Aaron Rodgers 16:42 Oh, and they- yeah, they came after you about horse dewormer and, you know, Sanjay was on here and you mopped the floor with him and, you know. And then, you know, then he goes back on CNN and- and basically, you know, tries to rip you. It's just like- it was- it was ridiculous. But let me just say this point, 'cause I think this is really important. The- you know, the two main things against me that they wanted to say. One, that I lied. I didn't. I didn't- you didn't ask me a follow-up.

Joe Rogan 17:10 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 17:10 But I said I was immunized and I went through an immunization process, so I don't know how you would classify that other than to say I was immunized, but that, to me, was the truth, is the truth. You didn't ask a follow-up. You ask a follow-up, I'd tell you what I mean. That- that's one. Number two, that I really- I- I don't like, um, and didn't like the characterization, that I put people in danger. Right? That I endangered my teammates, I lied to my teammates. And I already said from day one they knew. The medical staff, everybody in the organization, everybody knew I'm wearing a yellow wristband. I'm not vaxxed. Everybody knew my status. But number two, what non-vaxxed players had to do is we had to test every single morning. So, vaccinated players, testing every- once, once every two weeks. Right? Non-vaxxed, every single morning. Every off-day, uh, every day of the bye week. Off for a week while everybody else is off traveling, enjoying their life. We stay in Green Bay and we tested every single day. So, every day that you saw me, and I've said it before, I go to about two places in Green Bay. I go to the grocery store and I go to Barnes & Noble (laughs) , you know? Like, I love to read and I gotta get my groceries. If you saw me at those two places, you can be 100% sure that I tested that morning and that I tested negative. Before I even could walk into the facility, I had to test, wait in my car-... and then wait for 30 minutes for them to text, to text me and say that you're, that you're negative, you can enter the building. So, every single day, I was at the facility, every single day that any of my teammates saw me, any of my coaches, every single day that you saw me at Barnes & Noble or at the grocery store, I was negative for that day. Like I, I took it seriously because obviously there was a lot of, a lot going on. Now, I didn't believe, uh, in wearing a mask at a press conference. You have a room full of em- reporters who are fully vaxxed, wearing masks, sitting 30 feet away from me, and again, this goes to the shame, they wanted me as a non-vax player to wear a mask for an interview.

Joe Rogan 19:15 (laughs) While you're negative? You were tested that day.

Aaron Rodgers 19:19 While I'm negative that morning-

Joe Rogan 19:20 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 19:21 ... in a room full of fully vaccinated people who are, none of them are closer than 30 feet away from me.

Joe Rogan 19:28 I don't think, during a pandemic, there's anything wrong with testing people every day. I mean, I think if you want to keep people safe, and you want to keep that from spreading throughout the team, that's probably the best way to approach it. But everything else just seems so nuts. But we're looking at it, you know, hindsight is 20/20, right? We're looking at it from after it's over. And so many people, they just bought the narrative that was being promoted by CNN and MSNBC and wherever that if the, if you get vaccinated, you can't get COVID, you can't spread COVID. That was the narrative.

Aaron Rodgers 20:00 And that's my thing. Let's ... I get it. Like-

Joe Rogan 20:03 Uh-huh.

Aaron Rodgers 20:03 ... you want to test every- everybody every day?

Joe Rogan 20:05 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 20:05 Cool. That's fine. You want to keep people safe, if, if that's the benchmark for it. But as we look back now, let's not revise history. Let's not revise history on what actually happened and what was said, because what was said was, "You get the vax, you can't spread it or contract it."

Joe Rogan 20:24 And no one seems upset that that was a lie. In- including Burks, who has said that she had always known that it was not going to stop transmission, and it was not going to stop people from spreading it, which is wild that she would say, "You, you, we knew that you were still gonna get it even if you got vaccinated." Which is-

Aaron Rodgers 20:44 Okay.

Joe Rogan 20:44 No one said that.

Aaron Rodgers 20:45 No. Pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Joe Rogan 20:48 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 20:50 Uh, d- uh, the ... What do they call the winter? The w- uh, winter of death or whatever-

Joe Rogan 20:56 Yeah, I say-

Aaron Rodgers 20:56 ... for, for the non-vaxxed?

Joe Rogan 20:58 ... vaxxed. I say the winter of death and suffering.

Aaron Rodgers 21:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:00 It's like they were Game of Thrones, like they were t- t- talking (laughs) about the fucking White Walkers coming. Winter of death? I mean, Jesus Christ. It just... Uh, it's so wild because at that point when they had said that, i- i- we had already realized like, oh, this is 78% of the people hospitalized were obese. Most of the people that died were either obese or very overweight or, uh, rather, uh, very old.

Aaron Rodgers 21:26 Comorbidities.

Joe Rogan 21:27 Yeah. Four comorbidities, at least four, for like more than 50% of the people.

Aaron Rodgers 21:35 (sighs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:36 But people love to look at someone to be mad at, that's one of the things.

Aaron Rodgers 21:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:40 And if they can find a guy like you-

Aaron Rodgers 21:41 And, and-

Joe Rogan 21:41 ... who's killing it.

Aaron Rodgers 21:42 And our, our league is one of the greatest, you know, books every single year that's written, you know? It's, it's, it's a mystery novel, you never know what's gonna happen.

Joe Rogan 21:54 Mm-hmm.

Aaron Rodgers 21:54 But in a great epic novel, you need your protagonist and your antagonist.

Joe Rogan 21:59 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 21:59 You need your heroes and your villains. And I think they just, like, "We're going to make this guy the villain 'cause he's been so good for so long, and he's not vaxxed."

Joe Rogan 22:08 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 22:08 So, let's ... (laughs) But I think it ultimately didn't hurt me because at the end of the season, I was playing really well. I came back from COVID. We played S- Seahawks. We won. And I didn't have a great game that game, but the last like six, seven games, I played really, really well. And then there was a reporter out of Chicago who said that I'm the biggest jerk in the league, and he wouldn't vote for me for MVP because of my vax status.

Joe Rogan 22:37 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 22:38 So, it kind of put the rest of the other 49 MVP voters, I think, on notice going, "Oh, are you gonna let your personal political bias enter into a conversation about who the most valuable player in the league is and not vote for this guy because he's not vaxxed?" I think that played into at least some of their minds at some point because they would had to answer, "How do you justify not voting for this guy for MVP?"

Joe Rogan 23:06 Right. So ultimately, you came out ahead. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 23:09 Yeah. I think so.

Joe Rogan 23:10 What... How long was it before you were treated normally? Like, you were a pro-

Aaron Rodgers 23:16 Oh, this is the best part. Once the playoffs happened, it went from, uh, non-vax testing every single day, and vax at that point had to test once a week now. So, it went down from two weeks to one week. But once you got in the playoffs, you only tested if you're symptomatic, vaxxed or not vaxxed.

Joe Rogan 23:37 Yeah, they didn't want to take any chances once you're in the playoffs. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 23:40 They want everybody to play.

Joe Rogan 23:41 Of course. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 23:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:42 A lot of money on the line, baby. (laughs) When did they start treating you normally though? Like, i- did you feel like with the press and with the... I mean, now it's, it's-

Aaron Rodgers 23:52 Oh no, it's, it's... Uh, there's still that mark, I think.

Joe Rogan 23:54 Really?

Aaron Rodgers 23:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:55 Really? Some of those reporters are such cunts. It's just like there's a thing in sports where there's... Uh, it's way less of it in MMA, um, but there's a thing in sports where it's par for the course to be a douchebag to players, to treat them badly and to talk about them badly, because I guess they have this, uh, very special role in society, where they get to be professional athletes.

Aaron Rodgers 24:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 24:26 So, you're allowed to, you know, if...... if there's a drop ball or there's a, a play that doesn't go well, you, you could say all sorts of personal things about them and disparage their character, and call them lazy and call them entitled and all these different things that they love to do. And it's, it's really, like, ramped up in sports more than anywhere. And I think it's because of sports fans. Like, sports fans have been doing that forever, you know, when they're at work. You know, you're-

Aaron Rodgers 24:56 Right.

Joe Rogan 24:56 ... you got, you show up at the job and you're like, "See that fucking game last night? That guy sucks." You know, and there's this, like, attitude that they, like, I think repeated. And it's really these, uh, clunky personalities. They're not good reporters. They're not, they're not, like, b- brilliant people. They just have found this thing that they do. They just act like a cunt. You know what I mean?

Aaron Rodgers 25:22 Yeah. And some of them used my name for a long time to, to stay on some of their networks.

Joe Rogan 25:26 Yeah. And you never forget. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 25:30 It, it's just, you know, I think the interesting thing for me is to see how it changed, and whether ... A- and how my vaccination status, uh, they couldn't get past that. They couldn't get past years of friendship and me doing favors for them, doing interviews with them if they needed something, making sure I made time to, you know, give them a sound bite or do an interview or come on their show. And I'm talking about a, probably a dozen that I thought were allies in the media. Meaning, friendly to me, and that they knew. Like, if, if they needed a guest or something and I had the time, I would always make time for them, and haven't heard from any of them.

Joe Rogan 26:16 I think you got off light. That's good.

Aaron Rodgers 26:18 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:19 Cut them out. If that's the kind of people they are, you know, either they should apologize to you and learn and grow, or get them out of your fucking life.

Aaron Rodgers 26:26 No, I mean, that's why I said it was a blessing. It really was.

Joe Rogan 26:29 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 26:29 Because it made it clear who is in my corner and who is not.

Joe Rogan 26:35 Yeah. I mean, whatever happened to being, like, a charitable, forgiving person?

Aaron Rodgers 26:40 There's-

Joe Rogan 26:40 Isn't that like a quality that we-

Aaron Rodgers 26:42 There's none of that. If you don't follow the mainstream narrative or if you don't agree with me, take out the mainstream narrative, if you don't agree with me, I can't be friends with you because I can only ... I get to live in an echo chamber. And that's what society and social media has done I think on, on so many levels. Like you were saying earlier, 20 years ago the guy bitching at, you know, about his favorite player who played bad is bitching to his buddies at work and now they're all on social media going nuts-

Joe Rogan 27:08 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 27:08 ... and stirring up ... And like, like we were talking about earlier, it takes just a couple of people with an opinion that can, you know, sway something in, in a direction and, and then, you know, start this landslide of, of negativity around something.

Joe Rogan 27:22 Yeah. That's why I don't go on those things.

Aaron Rodgers 27:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:24 I just post and ghost. I post and I get the fuck out of there.

Aaron Rodgers 27:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:29 (laughs) I mean, it's very, it's valuable for me, social media is, for, you know, podcasts and comedy and stuff like that. And, you know, occasionally p- I like to point out cool stuff. Like, they found some-

Aaron Rodgers 27:38 Yeah, you do. Every time ... Well some of the robot-

Joe Rogan 27:40 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 27:40 ... stuff's really fucking great. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:43 (laughs) It's hard. It's coming. We're fucked.

Aaron Rodgers 27:45 Ugh.

Joe Rogan 27:45 We're fucked. They're coming. I mean, whether they're using them for military or they're gonna use them for law enforcement, but, uh, we're gonna have robots wandering through the streets telling you, "Show your papers."

Aaron Rodgers 27:55 I, Robot, man. That's, it's-

Joe Rogan 27:57 Yeah. It's gonna happen. W- I remember that movie used to be so fun 'cause I used to think of it as like, "Oh, wow, this is never gonna happen but this is kind of crazy if it did," and now I'm like, "Jesus, when is that gonna happen?" Because y- you see those, um, those, uh, Boston dynamics robots. Like, my friend Lex Fridman has one and it was over at his house. I was like, "Jesus, man." It's like, it's like someone having a werewolf in their house. Like, "What are you doing with this fucking thing? Get this out of here." (laughs) Like ... (laughs) It's got-

Aaron Rodgers 28:22 I saw a, a robot video the other day, a robot shooting at targets and they were fucking with it. You know, they were-

Joe Rogan 28:27 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 28:27 ... hitting in the back and messing around and it'd still find its range and pshut- you know.

Joe Rogan 28:31 I think that's fake. Isn't that one fake? 'Cause there's a, there's a series of guys that do these amazing CGI things and I think that's one of the things they did. I think-

Aaron Rodgers 28:41 I hope it's fake.

Joe Rogan 28:42 ... they were turning-

Aaron Rodgers 28:42 'Cause that was scary.

Joe Rogan 28:43 Yeah, it's scary.

Aaron Rodgers 28:44 But some of the little dog robots?

Joe Rogan 28:45 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 28:46 That opened doors and stuff? That's ...

Joe Rogan 28:48 D- have you ever seen that, um, I think it's called Heavy Metal? It's an episode of, uh, Black Mirror?

Aaron Rodgers 28:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:54 Have you ever seen that episode-

Aaron Rodgers 28:55 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 28:55 ... where the robot's chasing after the lady and it-

Aaron Rodgers 28:58 Yep.

Joe Rogan 28:58 Well, that is so possible. So possible.

Aaron Rodgers 29:01 Probable.

Joe Rogan 29:02 All they'd have to do is be able ... Yeah, and if it's tracking with satellite and if you, you have a fucking RFID chip that they can track or some sort of a Bluetooth locator, like a AirTag and they know where you are at all times. (sighs) We're gonna, we're gonna, we're about a decade away from a very strange world.

Aaron Rodgers 29:20 And we're all eating, and we're all eating insects?

Joe Rogan 29:21 Yeah. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 29:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:24 We're eating insects or Bill Gates fake meat.

Aaron Rodgers 29:27 (sighs)

Joe Rogan 29:27 He, he's gonna make us eat his fake meat so we look like him.

Aaron Rodgers 29:30 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:31 Because these non-health experts, these really unhealthy people that want to tell people how to be healthy, it's very strange. And they all wanna use climate change as this, uh, this is the main reason why you have to follow this rule that's gonna enrich them beyond imagination. If they can really get you to get off of meat and start eating a plant-based burger that their company develops or a bug-based burger. I'm not opposed to eating bugs, I was the host of Fear Factor, right? I've eaten a lot of bugs. And when I, uh, last time I went to Mexico actually, um, when we, we went to this resort and we got to this place and they had a bowl of, like, stir-fried crickets-

Aaron Rodgers 30:10 Ugh.

Joe Rogan 30:11 ... that, uh, it was like a teriyaki flavored stir-fried cricket. I was like, "What the fuck is this?" This is like a few years back before the pandemic and I tried it and it's like, "It's not bad." It's kind of salty. They were good. It's like, just like ... A bug is no different than a crab. Crabs are delicious. They're just big bugs. That's what they are. In fact, one of the things we found out...... from Fear Factor, is that people that are allergic to shellfish are also allergic to roaches.

Aaron Rodgers 30:40 (sighs)

Joe Rogan 30:40 And we found that out the hard way. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 30:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:44 This guy, but he ... I ate a roach.

Aaron Rodgers 30:45 That was great.

Joe Rogan 30:46 I ate a roach on Fear Factor.

Aaron Rodgers 30:46 Great show, by the way.

Joe Rogan 30:47 It's a fun show.

Aaron Rodgers 30:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:48 But roaches don't taste bad. They don't. They taste like almost nothing. It's like a flavor ... It's gross that you're eating a roach, but when you're eating it, I was like, "This is nothing. There's not much going on here." If I had to eat roaches to stay alive, I'd eat roaches.

Aaron Rodgers 31:02 All right.

Joe Rogan 31:02 Like, if I was trapped somewhere and I had to eat roaches, yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 31:04 It's fast.

Joe Rogan 31:05 Nah. Nah, I'd rather be full.

Aaron Rodgers 31:08 (laughs) I'd rather eat meat.

Joe Rogan 31:10 And that's scary. I, I have a distorted perception of food, obviously, because of Fear Factor, I think. I know what you can eat and what you can't eat, and it's, uh ... Most of it's psychological, and a lot of the things that we serve people, in fact, were delicacies in other countries. Like, I had a lot of Filipino friends, and, uh, they ... We, we served balut, which is a, it's a ... I believe it's a duck. It's a fertilized duck egg. And so-

Aaron Rodgers 31:33 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:33 ... it has, like, the embryo-

Aaron Rodgers 31:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:35 ... in the egg.

Aaron Rodgers 31:35 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:36 And it's a delicacy in the Philippines, and so my Filipino friends were like, "That's hilarious."

Aaron Rodgers 31:41 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:41 "We eat that all the time. We love it." (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 31:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:44 Have you ever seen Balut?

Aaron Rodgers 31:45 Yeah, I have now. I feel like I've seen the episode. I-

Joe Rogan 31:48 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 31:48 I, I used to watch the show all the time.

Joe Rogan 31:50 Yeah, it's, it's not bad. It's just in your head it's bad.

Aaron Rodgers 31:52 But it's like, it's- it's like a, it's a-

Joe Rogan 31:54 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 31:55 ... real, like-

Joe Rogan 31:55 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 31:56 ... kind of-

Joe Rogan 31:56 Feathers and everything.

Aaron Rodgers 31:57 ... almost fully form.

Joe Rogan 31:57 That's it. There you go.

Aaron Rodgers 31:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:59 Yeah, so they had to eat that.

Aaron Rodgers 32:01 Uh.

Joe Rogan 32:01 That little fertilized duck. Yeah, I don't know how that ever became a delicacy. It's probably very nutritious if I had to guess. I mean, it's got all the organs and everything in there. It's probably very rich in protein and ...

Aaron Rodgers 32:14 Oof. All right. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:17 (laughs) I didn't eat one of those, but they served them.

Aaron Rodgers 32:20 What did you eat though, like spiders and-

Joe Rogan 32:22 I ate everything. I ate, um, the f- ... On the very first episode, I ate a sheep's eyeball. That was not that bad either. That's all in your head. Um, I ate a tomato hornworm. Not that bad.

Aaron Rodgers 32:33 Uh.

Joe Rogan 32:33 Didn't taste bad. Uh, I ate, um, an Iraqi cave-dwelling spider. I ate a-

Aaron Rodgers 32:40 Live or dead?

Joe Rogan 32:41 Yeah, live, before it got in my teeth. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 32:45 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:45 He was dead when I swallowed him. Um, I ate, um, a Madagascar hissing cockroach. That's one of the big ones.

Aaron Rodgers 32:52 Ugh.

Joe Rogan 32:53 That was, uh ... Again, it was nothing. It didn't taste like anything. It was, like, uh, b- very bland.

Aaron Rodgers 32:58 What'd you put a little-

Joe Rogan 32:59 Just ate it.

Aaron Rodgers 32:59 ... Tabasco or something? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:00 No, I just ... I think that was an episode where there was a woman who was scared to do it. She wouldn't do it. It was a- I believe it was Celebrity Fear Factor, and she wouldn't do it. And so I said, "Listen, if you do it, I'll do it."

Aaron Rodgers 33:13 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:13 And so I said, "Look, I'm gonna ... I'll do it. It's no big deal." I just tried to ... Wanted to get her to move on. I'm like, "Come on, you can do this." Like, but I'm so jaded by it b- at this point.

Aaron Rodgers 33:21 And now?

Joe Rogan 33:22 Yeah, same thing.

Aaron Rodgers 33:23 Same.

Joe Rogan 33:23 Doesn't bother me. Like, people could throw up right in front of me. There it is. So that's the lady. So that's the, that's the Madagascar hiss- ... Look at me, a full head of hair. Back in the day.

Aaron Rodgers 33:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:35 So, it was no big deal, man.

Aaron Rodgers 33:37 Is that Kevin Federline?

Joe Rogan 33:39 That's me, buddy.

Aaron Rodgers 33:40 No, no, no. Uh.

Joe Rogan 33:40 Oh, the other guy?

Aaron Rodgers 33:41 No, no, no. That's-

Joe Rogan 33:42 Yes.

Aaron Rodgers 33:42 No, that's uh-

Joe Rogan 33:43 That's, uh, no, it's the other guy.

Aaron Rodgers 33:43 Uh, Backstr- uh-

Joe Rogan 33:44 Yeah, one of the Backstreet Boys.

Aaron Rodgers 33:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:46 Which one is it?

Aaron Rodgers 33:46 Kevin is his name from Backstreet Boys.

33:47 Kevin, but-

Joe Rogan 33:48 Yes.

Aaron Rodgers 33:48 ... yeah, Federline. Yeah.

33:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:50 Ali Landry. It was fun. Stephen Baldwin. But, uh, no big deal. It's just, it's in your head. It's like, "Whoa, what am I eating?" But really, if you, you know, if you had to eat a bowl of them to stay alive, it's not hard.

Aaron Rodgers 34:07 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:10 (laughs) You're not convinced.

Aaron Rodgers 34:11 (sighs)

Joe Rogan 34:11 I mean, people ate animal dicks on that show. We served them, uh, b- buffalo penis and-

Aaron Rodgers 34:16 Ladies, man.

Joe Rogan 34:16 ... deer penis.

Aaron Rodgers 34:18 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:18 Yeah. Guys had to eat it too.

Aaron Rodgers 34:20 Uh.

Joe Rogan 34:20 It was, um, it was a weird show.

Aaron Rodgers 34:22 It was awesome.

Joe Rogan 34:23 But, uh, yeah, eat the bugs. Eat zee bugs. Yeah, I don't understand that. I guess it's 'cause ... I mean, it is a good source of protein. The thing is, like, cricket protein, I know guys who eat that. They, they have, uh, cricket protein shakes, although there's, like, a powdered cricket protein, and they'll ... Apparently, it's, like, a good source of protein. They eat it as a protein shake.

Aaron Rodgers 34:47 Well, (sighs) I'm still on the fence.

Joe Rogan 34:50 You should be. It's not as good. A nice rib eye is better.

Aaron Rodgers 34:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:53 You know? A nice elk steak, a nice buffalo rib eye, that's better.

Aaron Rodgers 34:58 Something that you shoot too.

Joe Rogan 34:59 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 34:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:00 That's even better.

Aaron Rodgers 35:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:01 Yeah, but I mean, it's, um, just to ... What we're saying is this is a weird time in terms of, like, control and in terms of, uh, the influence of, uh, these forces with amazing resources that are trying to lean society into a very specific direction. You know, the World Economic Forums article or the, uh, rather advertisement where they're like, "You will own nothing and you will be happy."

Aaron Rodgers 35:25 And be- and be happy, yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:26 Just imagine saying that to people, 'cause that doesn't even make any sense, 'cause someone's gonna own these things. So who owns it? The state? The state owns it? What about you? Do you own anything? Are people renting these things? How's that work? Does someone own it? No one owns it. So-

Aaron Rodgers 35:40 No one-

Joe Rogan 35:40 ... everybody can just take whatever you want? Is that what this-

Aaron Rodgers 35:42 But you're gonna be happy, Joe.

Joe Rogan 35:43 Yeah, you're gonna be happy.

Aaron Rodgers 35:43 You're gonna be really happy.

Joe Rogan 35:44 But how about what if I'm already happy?

Aaron Rodgers 35:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:47 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 35:47 You will give us your land.

Joe Rogan 35:48 Imagine being able to say that this is going to make you happy. Like, how the fuck do you know what makes people happy?

Aaron Rodgers 35:55 I think when- whenever I reach a point where I think that I've ... You know, I really don't give any fucks, then I think about the World Econorm- (laughs) Economic Forum, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:07 Yeah, that, that is a strange thing, because I never even knew that was a thing until a couple of years ago, and then I started watching cl-

Aaron Rodgers 36:14 Nothing to see here, just the, you know, the world leaders talking about policy for the entire world.

Joe Rogan 36:18 Yeah, no big deal.

Aaron Rodgers 36:19 Yeah, nothing, nothing to worry about.

Joe Rogan 36:20 The CEO of Pfizer was on that, and he was talking about a medication that you swallow that has some sort of a chip in there that can tell-

Aaron Rodgers 36:30 Like a-

Joe Rogan 36:30 ... people whether or not you actually took the medication. And he says, "Imagine the compliance."

Aaron Rodgers 36:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:36 And this is a guy-... that profits at an extraordinary level from these medications. I mean, he is insanely wealthy. He is the CEO of one of the biggest corporations on planet Earth, and he's saying, "Imagine the compliance." Compliance.

Aaron Rodgers 36:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:56 He's not saying, "Imagine how many healthy people we could have. Imagine how many diseases we can cure." No.

Aaron Rodgers 37:01 Of all the words to use there-

Joe Rogan 37:03 Yes. Yes.

Aaron Rodgers 37:04 ... compliance.

Joe Rogan 37:04 Compliance is ama- Because that's, look, if, if it's about his bottom line, which it most certainly is, you know, the bottom line re- requires compliance. The more compliance, the more sales.

Aaron Rodgers 37:14 Gotta make sure they're taking those pills.

Joe Rogan 37:16 Yeah. It's fucking wild.

Aaron Rodgers 37:17 Brought to you by Pfizer.

Joe Rogan 37:19 75% of all television advertisement is all pharmaceutical drugs.

Aaron Rodgers 37:25 And aren't we one of the few countries that allows for-

Joe Rogan 37:28 Only two.

Aaron Rodgers 37:28 Only two, right? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:28 The only two, and the other one is New Zealand, and New Zealand's far more restrictive than us.

Aaron Rodgers 37:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:33 But all those other countries, they think that we're out of our fucking minds. Advertising for all these things that are gonna make you happy. There's a girl running through a wheat field, and there's great music playing, and she was, you know-

Aaron Rodgers 37:44 And here's the side effects.

Joe Rogan 37:45 Yeah. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 37:45 But then we're gonna finish with a happy thought, running through a meadow.

Joe Rogan 37:49 The side effects are crazy.

Aaron Rodgers 37:51 Playing with your grandson.

Joe Rogan 37:52 Yeah. It's a strange time, man. It's a strange time, because our information and our media has been co-opted by money, and th- money that comes from selling pharmaceutical drugs. And y- we all know ... Look, I remember I went and, uh, I got my nose fixed. I had a deviated septum. And, uh, I walked outta there, and the doctor tried to give me two different painkillers. And I said, "But I'm not in pain." And he said, "But you will be." And I said, "Well, how's it gonna get worse? How's it gonna get worse than this?" Like, it's, it's really not that big a deal. Like, I've been hit in the nose fucking 200 times. I have no idea. It, it was broken at lea- I broke my nose at least half a dozen, a dozen times. I, I don't even know how many times I've broke it. 'Cause, I mean, in training, you leave and you have-

Aaron Rodgers 38:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:33 ... a bloody nose. It's totally normal.

Aaron Rodgers 38:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:35 'Cause we're talking about, like, the deviation of cartilage. I mean, it didn't break the physical structure of my nose more than twice, that I know of. Like, the, the actual bone itself. But the, the cartilage was separated-

Aaron Rodgers 38:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:46 ... and there was blood in there all the time. So it was normal. So this guy telling me that it's gonna be worse than what I normally experience, I was like, "How?" But he was, like, pushing these on me. I never took anything. It never even hurt. Never bo- Woke up in the morning, waiting for the pain. (sniffs) Nothing. All I could do was breathe, you know? I had some stuff, some big foam tubes stuck up there for a couple weeks, I think, and then it was nothing.

Aaron Rodgers 39:11 Yeah, I mean, the pain management, especially with our sport, it's fascinating to see how things, uh, are treated. And I use quotations untreated because, um, up until probably a decade ago, you know, it was easily accessible to get Oxy, Percocet, Vicodin, whatever you wanted. Um, yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:29 Did they make sure you weren't playing on that stuff?

Aaron Rodgers 39:31 No, you played definitely. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:34 (exhales) Wow. And what ... Did you ever play on it?

Aaron Rodgers 39:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:37 What did you play on?

Aaron Rodgers 39:38 Percocet.

Joe Rogan 39:39 And what was the impact on your physical performance?

Aaron Rodgers 39:42 I just ... I mean, it was more for pain management, so I wasn't taking, like, uh, you know, any high dosage. But, um, stupid, ultimately. You know, just ... You know, here's the thing. I've had, I had knee issues for a long time. And, you know, you take anti-inflammatories, right? So you're taking anti-inflammatories that all come with a warning. If you take this more than a few weeks, you gotta get your blood tested, right? Because it can do damage to your liver. There is so many different things you can take now for, uh, you know, anti-inflammatory things that are natural, that don't cause damage to your body.

Joe Rogan 40:22 Right. CBD?

Aaron Rodgers 40:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:24 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 40:24 But CBD is frowned upon, and it's always said, "Well, there's not enough research yet about, you know, CBD in any, you know, positive, you know, uh, you know, uh, help that it can do for your body." But we're still giving out painkillers. Way less, and it's actually monitored now 'cause there were a few teams that were abusing that. Um, again, this was over a decade ago, I think, when they really changed the policy. But, um, but no, it's just, it's, it's ass backwards, the, the whole treatment of, of the professional a- It does, definitely in our sport, you know, that we're still giving out that kinda stuff.

Joe Rogan 40:58 When did they stop doing it as frequently? Was it when the opioid-

Aaron Rodgers 41:03 There was-

Joe Rogan 41:03 ... crisis kicked in?

Aaron Rodgers 41:05 No. There was a, you, I think there was one team that, uh, you know, that people were kinda raiding the, uh, the cupboards.

Joe Rogan 41:13 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 41:13 And then they put a, they put a stop to it. So now, it's more of a pharmacy-based thing, where you gotta sign in and sign out, and it's monitored and different things.

Joe Rogan 41:20 But they don't discourage players from playing on pain pills?

Aaron Rodgers 41:23 No, I don't think so.

Joe Rogan 41:25 (exhales) I mean, I can't imagine someone fighting on that stuff. I mean, that, their, the, USADA is very strict in terms of, like, what you're allowed to take and what you're not allowed to take. And, you know, they test people very frequently. So much so that, you know, Paulo Costa, who just fought in the last UFC, they actually tested him the day of the weigh-in, which c- caused a huge outrage, because this guy cuts a lot of weight and he was dehydrating himself. And they show up at his house at 6:00 in the morning and asked him to test, which is egregious, ridiculous. And that'll never happen again. They put a stop to it, and made sure USADA doesn't step outta line. But at least they stop people from competing on things.

Aaron Rodgers 42:05 Which they should.

Joe Rogan 42:05 At least.

Aaron Rodgers 42:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:06 Yeah. I mean, 'cause I couldn't imagine if-

Aaron Rodgers 42:07 But, I mean, in the NFL, I mean, for years, in, you know, '70s and '80s, there was a lot of stuff, you know, guys were taking some crazy stuff. Even when I was in high school, people were taking Rip Fuel, which is basically speed-

Joe Rogan 42:17 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 42:17 ... you know, and playing on that.

Joe Rogan 42:18 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 42:19 But, like, Toradol shots, up until recently, were really, you know, across the league, kind of standard. You know, guys-

Joe Rogan 42:25 And Toradol's an anti-inflammatory, right?

Aaron Rodgers 42:27 Right. But, like ... But some of the pain management, y- you know, it, it's, it's, it's been a little bit wild for a while. And, and I just don't understand why there isn't more natural options looked into-

Joe Rogan 42:41 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 42:41 ... that are out there, that have research behind it.... um, and we're still pushing the same, you know, Percocet, Vicodin, Oxy if you have pain and ...

Joe Rogan 42:49 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 42:51 You know, it's ... I, I saw, uh, at one point, a teammate of mine who was unable to get treatment on a post-surgical operation without being put under anesthesia because of an addiction to pain medicine.

Joe Rogan 43:08 Wow. So, he was so addicted that they couldn't even risk him trying it?

Aaron Rodgers 43:13 Yeah, and I, and I know of multiple teammates over the years, I'm talking about high school, college, and pros, who have dealt with their own, uh, relapses around addiction to pain pills.

Joe Rogan 43:25 But see, they're so addictive. And that's another thing that this pharmaceutical company tried to lie about. The pharmaceutical companies tried to lie. I mean, that's, uh, Dopesick, that's the premise of that, that whole show. Like, they were lying about whether or not these things were addictive when they knew they were. These are the same people. The same people that were telling you that you had to get jabbed are the same people that were telling you that opioids were not addictive, that-

Aaron Rodgers 43:50 They paid out $2.3 billion on the-

Joe Rogan 43:52 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 43:52 ... biggest fraud case in the history of the world.

Joe Rogan 43:55 Yeah, and then there's the Vioxx case that killed more than-

Aaron Rodgers 43:58 Which-

Joe Rogan 43:58 ... 60,000 Americans.

Aaron Rodgers 44:00 Which, when I was in college, everybody was taking Vioxx.

Joe Rogan 44:02 Wow.

Aaron Rodgers 44:03 Everybody. All my teammates were taking Vioxx.

Joe Rogan 44:06 It's dangerous shit. I know a guy who had a stroke from it, a guy who-

Aaron Rodgers 44:09 And-

Joe Rogan 44:09 ... fought in the UFC.

Aaron Rodgers 44:10 ... well, Chantix, right?

Joe Rogan 44:11 Yeah, yep.

Aaron Rodgers 44:12 As well.

Joe Rogan 44:13 Yep.

Aaron Rodgers 44:13 I think you said on your show, but there's something crazy ... I can't remember the exact number, but how many different products get pulled every single month that-

Joe Rogan 44:20 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 44:21 ... were ...

Joe Rogan 44:22 FDA approved.

Aaron Rodgers 44:22 FDA approved.

Joe Rogan 44:23 Yeah. It's a lot.

Aaron Rodgers 44:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:24 Yeah. That was with John Abramson, who is, um, a doctor who's worked to litigate against pharmaceutical companies and in particular against Vioxx when they were doing that. They had clear information that Vioxx was gonna be damaging to people. They knew there was problems and they s- they literally said, "There's going to be some issues, but we're gonna do very well." That's literally internal memos saying, "We're gonna do well financially, but people are gonna have ..." Like, that, those kind of issues, like cardiovascular issues, blood clotting issues, strokes, they knew it was gonna kill people. They knew it. And they got charged ... I, I believe what happened was they made 12 billion and they were fined five, which is, uh-

Aaron Rodgers 45:07 It's a good profit margin.

Joe Rogan 45:09 (clears throat) It's just crazy that you can have any profit margin off of killing 60,000 people. And these are the people we're supposed to trust? Like, all of a sudden, people put aside all of their thoughts that they had kept ... Every ... You talk to anyone about whether or not the pharmaceutical companies were ethical, whether or not they were telling the truth, whether or not they promoted dangerous medications that were unnecessary and everybody would say yes. Those same people were calling you a plague rat. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 45:41 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:42 It's kind of funny now that it's over, but in the heat of it-

Aaron Rodgers 45:45 It wasn't exactly the healthiest swath of the population either that was, uh-

Joe Rogan 45:49 No.

Aaron Rodgers 45:49 ... that was coming after ...

Joe Rogan 45:51 Oh, no, no. The people that-

Aaron Rodgers 45:52 ... after us.

Joe Rogan 45:52 ... came after me the hardest were fat. It was, it was hilarious. And I was like, "Do, do you understand that whatever you're doing to your body is way, way worse than what COVID's gonna do to you?" Like, what you're doing to your body by being fat like this, like if you think you're gonna preten- prevent that with some medication that just keeps you from getting COVID, and it didn't, it's still ... You're, you're fucking dying, man. You're eating yourself to death.

Aaron Rodgers 46:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:18 You're eating shitty food and you're, you have a sedentary lifestyle and you're probably taking all sorts of pharmaceutical medication for anxiety and depression and all these other things that are fucking with your head. It's wild, man. It's a wild time because people really are conditioned to think that they can take a medication and cure all their ills, and cure, almost instantaneously, something that has become a problem from lifestyle choices that you have ... you've built up over years and years and years of body abuse. So, if you abused your body for so long and then you think this all of a sudden, a pain pill or a this pill or a that pill is gonna fix all that. And no one's telling you, "Hey, you gotta lose weight. Hey, you gotta drink water. Hey, you should really exercise on a regular basis. Hey, what about vitamins? Do you know about vitamin D? Look how-"

Aaron Rodgers 47:09 Go out in the sun.

Joe Rogan 47:10 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 47:10 You're ... 90% of the population's vitamin D deficient, something like that.

Joe Rogan 47:13 Yeah. It's, it's very high.

Aaron Rodgers 47:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:14 Very high. Yeah, it's-

Aaron Rodgers 47:15 It might not be 90, but I don't want to-

Joe Rogan 47:17 It's, it's-

Aaron Rodgers 47:17 ... fact check on that one, but it's-

Joe Rogan 47:18 I think it's in the high 70s.

Aaron Rodgers 47:19 Okay.

Joe Rogan 47:20 I think it ... Let's find out what percentage of the population. It's probably-

Aaron Rodgers 47:22 Thank you, Joe.

Joe Rogan 47:22 ... diminished because there has been quite a bit of publicity during the pandemic about vitamin D deficiency because they showed what percentage of people who are in the ICU, I think it was at one point in time it was 84% of the people who were in the ICU were insufficient or deficient-

Aaron Rodgers 47:37 I think that's gonna be low there, 42%.

Joe Rogan 47:40 Vitamin De- ... Hmm, interesting. It's only 42.

Aaron Rodgers 47:44 Yeah, there's-

Joe Rogan 47:44 I thought it was a lot higher than that. That's 2018. I don't think that's accurate. Uh, I think it's higher than that.

Narrator 47:51 Yeah, I think it's on. Let me see. I don't know if ... I think it's pulling from a different age group.

Joe Rogan 47:56 It's a Cleveland Clinic over 65.

Narrator 48:00 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 48:00 I would say just-

Narrator 48:01 That's over 60, yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 48:01 Something you just said-

Narrator 48:02 I thought it was.

Aaron Rodgers 48:02 ... a second ago, I would, I would frame it slightly differently. I think you said people are conditioned to think. I, I think people are conditioned not to think anymore.

Joe Rogan 48:12 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 48:12 They're conditioned to do exactly what they're told.

Joe Rogan 48:17 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 48:17 By their news station, by their politician. You know, people don't want to think for themselves anymore.

Joe Rogan 48:25 Well, they're conditioned at work. Think about if you have a job. The majority of people in this country have a job where you have a boss. The bosses are a s- very small minority. The majority of people work for that boss. If you work for a corporation, they have very sti- strict rules that they'd like you to follow. There's behavior rules, there's language rules, there's dress rules, there's, you know, rules about the time you're supposed to be there and the amount of work you're supposed to do and what you're supposed to take home and what, what's required of you. People are conditioned to have someone tell them what they can and can't do. And then they get off on Friday and they can't wait to get drunk-And that's part of why they wanna get drunk, is they wanna escape. They wanna escape this, this grind of a world. A person who can become autonomous, a person who can have their own job, where it's their business or it's their product that they're selling, or their art that they're selling, or, uh, there's something where you can be self-sufficient, that is the biggest freedom that a person can have in this culture. And most people don't have that freedom. So, most people are conditioned to have someone lay the rules out for them, tell them when they're supposed to be there, tell them what they get f- when they work for an hour, that... Most people don't have the ability to just think for themselves. They... It's been taken away from them because they wanna make a living.

Aaron Rodgers 49:52 Yeah, then you get into student loans.

Joe Rogan 49:54 (sighs) Well, that's the craziest one, right? Because you can't even get rid of those.

Aaron Rodgers 49:58 Right. Every other, every other, right, uh, uh-

Joe Rogan 50:02 Every other loan.

Aaron Rodgers 50:03 ... loan-

Joe Rogan 50:04 Yeah. You can go bankrupt.

Aaron Rodgers 50:04 ... you can bankrupt.

Joe Rogan 50:05 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 50:05 Except for?

Joe Rogan 50:06 Student loans. I know of people that are getting Social Security docked. Their Social Security money is being docked because they owe student loans. So, you're at the finish line, it's the end of your life and you owe money for loans you took out when you were 18, and now you're 65.

Aaron Rodgers 50:28 (sighs) Ooh.

Joe Rogan 50:30 That's a rough way to l- leave this life. It's, it's a rough... And, and the amount of interest based on it. I was reading about this woman who took out $150,000 in student loans, and now she owes $250,000 because of all the interest and all the time.

Aaron Rodgers 50:48 Yeah. And how much ov- over the course of that loan, what are you into... What are you paying?

Joe Rogan 50:52 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 50:53 Like, seven figures for sure, right?

Joe Rogan 50:54 (laughs) Fucking crazy. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 50:54 Off of that.

Joe Rogan 50:57 I mean, it's, it's a fucking business. And it's also, for many people, something that they're not gonna use for whatever occupation they choose. I mean, maybe it will help them get a job if it shows that they have a bachelor's in this or a master's in that. But there's a large amount of people out there that are out there working in a field that is not even their field of study in college. So, they have this student loan that didn't even apply to what they wound up doing for a living, and then they have to pay it off forever. And it's subsidized by the government, so it's e- it's an extraordinarily expensive endeavor. And you're making this choice when you're 18, you don't know what the fuck you're doing.

Aaron Rodgers 51:33 No.

Joe Rogan 51:34 You have zero idea. It's the most vulnerable time in your life before your, your frontal lobe forms. You're, you're not even 25 years old and you're making these life decisions that will affect you forever.

Aaron Rodgers 51:46 But it's not pushed, uh, you know, it's shame, you're shamed almost-

Joe Rogan 51:50 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 51:51 ... if you don't go to college, right?

Joe Rogan 51:52 Oh, yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 51:52 It's never pushed like, "Hey, go learn a technical s- skill-"

Joe Rogan 51:55 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 51:55 "... where you can do a year of apprenticeship or college or study-

Joe Rogan 52:00 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 52:00 ... and then go make se- six figures in a job."

Joe Rogan 52:03 One of the biggest times in my life where I felt like a loser was right outta high school, 'cause I took a year off. And I remember just telling people that I was gonna take a year off and they were like-

Aaron Rodgers 52:11 How could you?

Joe Rogan 52:13 (sighs) So, this is Boston too, which is very, um, d- hardcore blue-collar workers and e- educated people that work hard. Like, everybody works hard in Boston. It's like, it's cold as fuck in the winter and you gotta work. Like, everybody works. And so, me taking a year off was like, "Oh, man, you're ruining your fucking life."

Aaron Rodgers 52:30 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:30 "Joe's gonna be a loser."

Aaron Rodgers 52:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:31 So, I really only went to college so that people didn't think I was a loser. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 52:37 (laughs) That's true.

Joe Rogan 52:37 And, and what'd you study?

Aaron Rodgers 52:39 Well, um, (sighs) I, I went to, uh, UMass Boston and it was, uh, one of those deals where you didn't have to have, uh, your SATs, 'cause it was like a continuing education program. So, I just started taking courses there and I did it for three years and then I was like, "What am I doing?" And then I quit.

Joe Rogan 52:55 Yep. Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 52:56 (laughs) Nice. Worked out. (laughs) It was... I did, but I didn't have to. But I mean, nothing I studied was interesting to me. I mean, in terms of, uh, something to do for a living. I b- I thought, you know, "What am I gonna do?" I just couldn't figure out anything that was like a traditional job that seemed even remotely appealing. Everything looked like death. It just looked like the death of fun, the death of hopes and dreams. It was just...

Joe Rogan 53:20 But also, you're 18, 19 and 20.

Aaron Rodgers 53:21 Yeah. I was so full of energy too, and I just wanted to get... Go do stuff.

Joe Rogan 53:25 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 53:26 I just did... The last thing I wanted to do was sit in some fucking classroom and listen to some n- nonsense and memorize it.

Joe Rogan 53:31 That's what I like about, uh, you know, friends in, uh, Australia or Europe. You know, most of those kids, they finish school and then they take a year, right? They save up their money and then they take a year of like, traveling, going to different-

Aaron Rodgers 53:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:43 ... cultures, areas. Come to the States, different parts of Europe, Asia, whatever, and like, f- go to different cultures, forget about the-

Aaron Rodgers 53:50 Think about things.

Joe Rogan 53:51 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 53:52 Find out what's attractive to you.

Joe Rogan 53:53 Yeah, what they're-

Aaron Rodgers 53:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:54 ... what they're into.

Aaron Rodgers 53:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:55 Meet different people. Yeah, that's one of the great things about social media now, is that people are able to make a living off of things l- that were very difficult to pursue, like art. Like, if you have, like, really good art, you can, you know, post it on social media and people share it and the next thing you know, you have orders coming in and you, you're painting for a living.

Aaron Rodgers 54:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:15 It's, uh-

Aaron Rodgers 54:16 I love it. It's great.

Joe Rogan 54:17 It's g- It's amazing.

Aaron Rodgers 54:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:17 It's one of the beautiful things about our time. The more people that can escape a system where someone tells you what to do, I think, the better. I mean, there's some people that want that, and that's fine.

Aaron Rodgers 54:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:27 There's nothing, nothing wrong with wanting a good job. There's great jobs out there. Nothing wrong with that. But if you're one of those people like me, that just can't fucking sit still, and that seemed impossible to you, you know, back then, y- you know, you just felt like a loser, just felt like a, a fool.

Aaron Rodgers 54:44 Yeah, for sure. I mean, it was, "What colleges did you get in?" "Oh, I didn't get into this one." Ah, fuck. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:49 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 54:49 Didn't get into UC, you know? I wanted to get into this one." God.

Joe Rogan 54:51 There's so much pressure on people.

Aaron Rodgers 54:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:52 And there's zero... I mean, when you were a kid and you were playing football, what was the attitude about playing in the NFL? Was it that this was a pipe dream? Was it was something that was realistic 'cause you were talented? Like, how did, how did people approach that?

Aaron Rodgers 55:10 I was on a, um...

55:12 ... spring break trip with a buddy of mine, and I remember him ask, we were 15 hours in a 15-passenger van going down to Mexico, doing some, like, humanitarian work down there. That was how I spent my sophomore year. And I remember we, you know, you're talking about who knows what, 'cause back then you might have had a Walkman, but other than that-

Joe Rogan 55:30 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 55:30 ... you didn't have any, you know-

Joe Rogan 55:31 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 55:31 ... technology. And my buddy said, you know, "What do you want to do?" And I said, uh, "I want to play in the NFL." He's like, "Fff, yeah right."

Joe Rogan 55:39 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 55:39 "You'll never make it." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 55:41 You should call that dude up every month. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 55:45 (laughs) Uh, but, but it w- it was a pipe dream. It was a dream, for sure, but a pipe dream. One of my favorite stories about somebody who, uh, didn't believe in me was, I had this teacher at Cal. And I wrote this paper in a food appreciation class.

Joe Rogan 56:03 Hmm.

Aaron Rodgers 56:03 That was the class, food appreciation.

Joe Rogan 56:04 I could go to that class.

Aaron Rodgers 56:06 And there was like 15 out of f- uh, 15 out of 15 kids on the team in that class, class of, like, let's say 120 people, right? And I wrote a paper, and she said I cited incorrectly. So we had these breakout classes. Um, you know, of the 120, there'd be like six breakout classes of 20. So in my class of 20, uh, let's say 15, it was like three-fourths, so 15 of the kids didn't cite it exactly how she said. 14 of them got to re-write the paper. Not me. So I said, "Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go see her at her, at her hours." Right? So, at Cal, we, we had practice at two o'clock, so you had to be up top at the football facility at two o'clock. So I told my quarterback coach, "I'm gonna be late this day, I gotta go to this teacher's..." Hours would start at two o'clock. So I went to her office, and she was ready for me. She had my paper out, I said, "Look, I'm not asking for a special privilege here, but the other 14 kids who got, who got an F on the paper got to re-write the paper and I didn't." And she ripped me apart. "You are entitled, athlete, you expect things to be given to you. What are you gonna do with your life?" And I said, "I'm gonna play in the NFL." She said, "No way in hell."

Joe Rogan 57:20 "No way in hell"?

Aaron Rodgers 57:21 "You won't make it. You won't make it. You'll get hurt, you'll never make it."

Joe Rogan 57:23 Whoa.

Aaron Rodgers 57:24 "You will need your education and you will never make it, and what I've seen from you is you won't amount to anything."

Joe Rogan 57:31 Oh my God.

Aaron Rodgers 57:31 And I said, "Watch me."

Joe Rogan 57:34 What a terrible thing to say to a kid.

Aaron Rodgers 57:36 So big props to that, uh, food appreciation teacher at Cal for trying to, trying to ruin, you know, my life and my dreams and she just gave me some ammo.

Joe Rogan 57:47 I mean, what a just irresponsible way to communicate with someone, uh, who's young and has their whole life ahead of them. But then again, that's part of the problem, is that people don't have their whole life ahead of them anymore. And then they see people coming up and they, they get upset. They're, they're upset by people that they deem to be privileged, or they deem to, to have a, a better place in life than they had.

Aaron Rodgers 58:08 The crazy thing is, I was probably the best athlete student in that class, and the one who was actually trying to take it seriously.

Joe Rogan 58:14 So she did, she specifically singled you out just-

Aaron Rodgers 58:17 Yep.

Joe Rogan 58:17 ... because you were an athlete-

Aaron Rodgers 58:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:18 ... and didn't allow you to... So she wanted to damage your grades.

Aaron Rodgers 58:19 And the best part is, the best part is, so I, so I'm late to my QB meeting, and I have a meeting after practice that day with the, the liaison. He was, I don't know what his exact title was, but he was liaison between the players and the school, basically. And I said, "Hey look, here's what happened. I went in this office." I told the whole story. "I'mjus- you know, I was trying to get the same treatment as the other 14 kids who got to re-write the paper, and she kind of ripped my ass, and, and was a little derogatory. I didn't think that was, you know, fair or appropriate." They brought some heat down on her, so she had a vendetta against me. At the end of the semester, she wrote up a three-page paper trying to get me, uh, expelled from campus.

Joe Rogan 59:02 (gasps)

Aaron Rodgers 59:02 I had to go in front of the Judicial Affairs Board at Cal in like some, like, kangaroo court, and ended up having to write, it was two options. One, expulsion, or two, I could write an apology letter to this teacher. She, like made up all this great shit. I was late to class every day, I was disruptive. I literally was on time every day, sat in the middle of the row, and was probably one of the only football players actually taking notes and paying attention.

Joe Rogan 59:37 So she just lied?

Aaron Rodgers 59:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:39 Wow. (laughs) Maybe she had a thing with football players. I don't know. (laughs) Just, that's, it's so sad that there's people like that out there, that-

Aaron Rodgers 59:49 But that's social, isn't that social media to an extent now?

Joe Rogan 59:52 Yes. Yes, that's-

Aaron Rodgers 59:52 It's people who are upset and bitter and, and-

Joe Rogan 59:54 Right.

Aaron Rodgers 59:54 ... want to be offended by something, and so they'll do anything to like make themselves feel better. If I can put somebody down, if I can rip somebody apart, if I can find somebody to be offended about, and then-

Joe Rogan 1:00:06 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:07 ... away we go.

Joe Rogan 1:00:07 That's that old expression, right? Hurt people hurt people.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:10 She's a damaged lady, and she decided to take it out on you.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:13 Took it out on the wrong person though.

Joe Rogan 1:00:15 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:17 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:00:17 I bet she took it out on a lot of people that were the right person.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:19 She probably did, yeah. She probably did.

Joe Rogan 1:00:19 She's probably pretty effective with those tactics.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:21 It's like, "Hey, lady."

Joe Rogan 1:00:23 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:23 "You're teaching a fucking food appreciation class."

Joe Rogan 1:00:27 What do you learn in food appreciation?

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:30 Is it just like, uh, appreciation of different culinary styles? Like what are you, what are you learning?

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:35 Couldn't tell you.

Joe Rogan 1:00:37 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:37 Nothing stuck with me. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:00:40 (laughs) Except for attitude. Yeah, that's unfortunate, man. That's, uh, there's a lot of people like that, and some of them, uh, they ruin lives, and some of them, they, they just give people fuel, they give people anger and determination to prove that person wrong.

Aaron Rodgers 1:00:54 Yeah, but the shit part is, like you said, for me, it made me just work that much harder, 'cause I'm like, another person that I can prove wrong.

Joe Rogan 1:01:02 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:03 But for people not as mentally tough, or ease, more easily offended or hurt by something like that, I mean, it's possible, like you said, that she could have, you know-... been detrimental-

Joe Rogan 1:01:15 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:15 ... to other people, why?

Joe Rogan 1:01:17 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:17 Because you have some tiny position of power?

Joe Rogan 1:01:20 Yeah. Well-

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:20 And you have some sort of vendetta against, what, the world?

Joe Rogan 1:01:24 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:24 That you're teaching a food appreciation class?

Joe Rogan 1:01:27 Yeah, the p- power, that's the big one, right? The fact that she had that ability. That is so intoxicating for people when they, they have control over folks.

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:36 Wanna talk about power, talk about the head of a homeowners' association. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:01:40 Homeowners' association?

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:41 Like, an HOA.

Joe Rogan 1:01:42 Oh, yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:43 The people that run those things.

Joe Rogan 1:01:44 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:01:44 (laughs) Like, just, I was in a, I was in a HOA and... Years ago, and, and I was trying to get a fence built behind my house, 'cause there was, like, a running trail behind it and I, I liked my privacy. And I went to this meeting and the guy in front of me, poor guy, he had to paint five different colors on his garage of the color he wanted to paint his house, and had to have people from the community come by and vote on it.

Joe Rogan 1:02:07 Oh my God.

Aaron Rodgers 1:02:07 And he'd come by, this was the second month that he had came by, and this 80-year-old woman who has just an ounce of power in the community, who's running the HOA, goes, "I'm sorry, sir, you don't have enough votes. You gotta come back next month."

Joe Rogan 1:02:20 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:02:20 This fucking guy just tryin' to paint his, you know, his fucking house.

Joe Rogan 1:02:24 (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:02:24 And he's got, like, you know, it's five shades of, like, between tan and brown, you know? It's all the same goddamn color. It's like-

Joe Rogan 1:02:30 Oh, God.

Aaron Rodgers 1:02:31 ... come, come on, man.

Joe Rogan 1:02:32 That's hilarious. Yeah, the, I've, I've seen people get very upset about that. In fact, this community that I lived in, there was a homeowners' association dispute, and then somebody poisoned the dogs of people that were running the homeowners' association. So, like, two different dogs got poisoned. And, uh, they never figured out who did it, they don't know what happened, but this person, whoever it was, killed people's dogs because they didn't like the way they were being treated by the homeowners' association.

Aaron Rodgers 1:03:02 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:03:03 Yeah, man, fuckin'-

Aaron Rodgers 1:03:04 Wow.

Joe Rogan 1:03:05 Some people need conflict in their life, you know? And that, you know, and, and being told what to do by someone in the homeowners' association is so fuckin'... (sighs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:03:15 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:17 Yeah, it's a strange thing, man. Power. Power is a, a weird, weird weapon that people wield. You know, and they, and they really enjoy it when, when, you know, you're the, the boss of an office building or you're the, the person that gets to tell a student that they ha- they can't rewrite their paper, they... There's people that get off on that shit. It's the most intoxicating drug, I think, probably.

Aaron Rodgers 1:03:41 Yeah. There's some other ones, though, that are pretty intoxicating.

Joe Rogan 1:03:44 Yeah, there's, there's other ones. Yeah. Some of, sometimes they mix them. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:03:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:03:50 Sometimes they're on one when they're, they're getting the natural one from telling you what to do. Yeah. It's, it's awful. But again, there's always those stories, right? There's always those stories of people that try to hold someone back and it doesn't work, and then you get to tell people about it.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:03 It's great.

Joe Rogan 1:04:04 Yeah, but there's-

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:04 I'm thankful for it.

Joe Rogan 1:04:05 Yeah. Right? There's people in your life that-

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:08 ... th- their shitty attitude gives you fuel.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:10 And it also, it's a lesson to never behave that way.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:14 I mean, not that you ever would, but it's, like, a real-

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:16 Totally.

Joe Rogan 1:04:16 ... affirmation of that.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:18 Yeah. It doesn't take a whole lot to show a little bit of kindness.

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 No, and it's great for you too. That's what people need to understand. They think that by being kind you're just being good to that person at the detriment of yourself or at the ex- your own expense. But no, it's the opposite. It's actually selfish to be nice, 'cause it feels great-

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:39 ... to be kind and generous. It feels great.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:41 It's amazing.

Joe Rogan 1:04:41 It's nice.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:42 It's the best.

Joe Rogan 1:04:43 Yeah. Nothing wrong with it.

Aaron Rodgers 1:04:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:47 It's a, it's just people need to learn that. They, you know, there's so many examples that they see, that they, at least they think that this is what's happening, where this mean, shitty person who d- tells everybody what to do and is a dictator, that person gets ahead. So they think that they have to be like that.

Aaron Rodgers 1:05:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:06 You know, that's, uh, that has always been the Hollywood way, right? Th- that's, like, Ari Gold from Entourage, you know, you, you succeed by telling everybody to fuck off and y- yell at everybody and kick 'em out. And, and I think there's a lotta people that, like, want to get to that place where they could do that to people, where they have to listen, "Everybody has to kiss my ass."

Aaron Rodgers 1:05:26 Well, that's what, that's what's glorified in TV shows and movies-

Joe Rogan 1:05:28 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:05:28 ... right? Is that, is that archetype of the, you know, the don't-give-a-fuck leader who-

Joe Rogan 1:05:34 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:05:34 ... gets everybody to do exactly what he wants them to do, or she wants them to do. It's like-

Joe Rogan 1:05:38 Mm-hmm.

Aaron Rodgers 1:05:39 ... eh, there's other ways of maybe living and doing things.

Joe Rogan 1:05:42 (smacks lips) Yeah, there are, but (sighs) not if you have shitty employees, then there's that problem. There is people that don't wanna listen, they're not good, and you have to crack the whip. And then, then I think over time, it becomes easier to be that sort of shitty dictator than it is to have, like, the sort of balanced, nuanced approach to people, and communicate with them, and try to help them do better.

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:07 Can't you just fire those people?

Joe Rogan 1:06:08 You should. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:11 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:06:11 Yeah, you should probably just fire those people.

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:12 And you're gone.

Joe Rogan 1:06:13 And then you get sued. You know what I mean?

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:15 In this day and age, people decide you singled them out because of their sexual orientation, or the way they look, or what part of the world they're from, and it's like (exhales sharply) . It's a strange time. It's a time of a lot of information and a lot of communication, but also a lot of chaos.

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:30 There's gotta be a reset, though. I ve- I feel-

Joe Rogan 1:06:32 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:32 ... like, there's, there's gotta be a rebalancing at some point.

Joe Rogan 1:06:36 I feel like it's happening.

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:37 Yeah?

Joe Rogan 1:06:38 Yeah, I mean, I-

Aaron Rodgers 1:06:38 How so?

Joe Rogan 1:06:39 I just think people are fed up. I think there's a large percentage of the population that realized that a lot of the behavior that you're seeing people exhibit and a lot of the, the, the chaos of this online mob culture, it's negative. It's not, it's not helpful, and maybe they've been through it, or know someone who's been through it, or maybe they even participated in it and they feel terrible. And they don't, they don't want it anymore.

Aaron Rodgers 1:07:03 I hope so for, like, comedy.

Joe Rogan 1:07:05 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:07:05 You know? And, and what it's, the attack on, on comedy and college campus safe spaces and-

Joe Rogan 1:07:11 Yeah. That's where I worry about it. 'Cause remember, I was talking years ago, like, back 2014, 2015, we were, we were mocking these stories that are coming out of colleges and the way people are behaving. And th- the, just the j- the general, the rules of discourse, the way, they were limiting the way people c- communicated about things. And...... I was saying that I think this is a real problem. People say, "Well, why do you care about that? This has nothing to do with you. You know, you're a middle-aged comedian. You know, this is not gonna affect your life." I'm like, "That's gonna... Those guys are gonna graduate. These people that have this attitude are gonna graduate and then they're gonna infect corporations. Then it's gonna spread." And that's exactly what happened.

Aaron Rodgers 1:07:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:54 And, you know, I wasn't the only one that was thinking this either. There, there was a, a lot of people that were sort of sounding the alarm early on. You know, some of the funniest ones were, uh, Peter Boghossian and Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. They, uh, put together these grievance studies, these fake studies.

Aaron Rodgers 1:08:12 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:12 And one was, uh, h- homoerotic, uh, behavior and rape culture in dog parks.

Aaron Rodgers 1:08:17 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:18 So they put together these fa- and they got awards for these studies. And, uh, one of them was fat bodybuilding.

Aaron Rodgers 1:08:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:25 They, uh... Yeah, they, they put together a fat bodybuilding study. And these studies were peer-reviewed and they, they, they got applause for these things, and, and praise. And then, you know, they all got in trouble when it turned out that-

Aaron Rodgers 1:08:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:41 ... these, these were fake studies. But they were trying to highlight a real problem with nonsense, ridiculous coddling and nonsense of ru- of terrible ideas. And that these, these ideologies were not objective or they're, they're not rational, and they were trying to express that. And they did it through humor, and people were very, very upset that they got duped. And, uh, uh, even then, I remember people saying, like, "Why do you care?" I'm like, "What do you mean why do I care? This is gonna... It's gonna spread." I have children. They're gonna go to these schools. They're gonna... They're gonna learn this stuff. Like, this is not good.

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:16 And you think it's changing? You think it's-

Joe Rogan 1:09:18 I think so. I don't think it's changing that much in colleges. In colleges, I think it's probably doubling down.

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:23 I think colleges are gonna be the... That's the real breeding ground for those sort of mental diseases.

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:30 So what, what has to change, do you think?

Joe Rogan 1:09:33 People stop going to college. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:09:35 I don't know. No, I think, um-

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:37 Well, now they got their loans paid for, so...

Joe Rogan 1:09:39 Yeah. Well, they only got 10,000 bucks worth. It was a fucking, uh, an op- a weird gesture.

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:45 Well, they didn't have much money left after they sent all that money to Ukraine, so, I guess-

Joe Rogan 1:09:48 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:49 And hired 87,000 IRS agents.

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:53 And arm 'em.

Joe Rogan 1:09:53 Yeah. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:09:56 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:09:56 That was one of the best things about the ad, when they were, uh, calling out for people, that you might have to use lethal force. Like, since when does a fucking IRS agent shoot people? Like, uh, aren't you just supposed to collect money?

Aaron Rodgers 1:10:08 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:10:08 Like, why are you shooting people? (laughs) Why is that in the job description?

Aaron Rodgers 1:10:11 Well, I don't know if you, if you remember this, and maybe Jamie can look it up so he verifies this, but I believe a few years ago when there was an ammo shortage, there was conversation around, uh, the fact that, kind of bizarrely, the government and, and I believe at the time, the IRS had bought up something like over a billion or a couple billion rounds of ammunition. I remember th- thinking at the time, and maybe it's TSA as well, but we're thinking, "What... But I feel like the IRS is... What do they need ammunition for?" That's kind of strange, right?

Joe Rogan 1:10:45 Yeah. Yeah, I don't know why the IRS would need ammunition. Unless there's some person who won't pay taxes and is holed up. GOP wants answers on IRS's 700,000 ammo stockpile, $700,000 ammo stockpile, as Dems okay $80 billion for agency enforcement. And this is in August of 2022, so this is-

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:07 But I'm talking about like five-

Joe Rogan 1:11:08 ... just a week-

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:08 ... six, seven years ago.

Joe Rogan 1:11:11 Ah, well, this is just a week ago.

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:14 Yeah, that's a lot of ammo. (laughs)

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:17 For what? Uh, isn't it a bunch of CPAs and, uh... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:11:20 Yeah. (laughs) They like to be strapped.

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:22 Just in case someone comes for the files. But I would imagine there would be a situation where someone was, um, a criminal and they were hiding their taxes. And, uh, the IRS agents were in danger because they were gonna target the IRS agent that was investigating their case. I could imagine that. But I think that would be a rare thing, and you would involve-

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:42 But they're not-

Joe Rogan 1:11:42 ... traditional law enforcement.

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:43 I, that's what I'm saying. They're not law enforcement.

Joe Rogan 1:11:45 Right, right.

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:45 The IRS isn't, right? Unless they're under that...

Joe Rogan 1:11:47 I mean, are they technically law enforcement? What is the... What's the techninal (sic) - technical definition of IRS? It's not law enforcement, is it?

Aaron Rodgers 1:11:55 Well, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:11:56 I guess so, right? Kind of.

Aaron Rodgers 1:12:00 Revenues, service. Responsible for collecting taxes and administering their internal revenue code, the main body of the federal statutory tax law.

Joe Rogan 1:12:16 Strapped.

Aaron Rodgers 1:12:17 Got it. So-

Joe Rogan 1:12:18 Strapped.

Aaron Rodgers 1:12:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:12:19 Looking like John Wick, showing up at your house, looking for that extra $2,000.

Aaron Rodgers 1:12:24 Jeez.

Joe Rogan 1:12:27 I mean, it all comes down to glorified revenue collectors. I mean, that's, that's what unfortunately, it's what they turned a lot of police officers into too. You see all these, you know, these, um, speed traps and traffic stops and all the t- I mean, they're just, they're glorified revenue collectors in some places.

Aaron Rodgers 1:12:45 Yeah. How does that change? You know, how does that get better? How do we flip that?

Joe Rogan 1:12:51 Well, I mean, anarchists, their solution is that... I mean, I saw Michael Malice actually talking about this the other day, and he was making some very good points. And he was saying that there's no accountability when it comes to police, in that they... if they were a private institution, they would have accountability. Like, if it was a private institution that was hired to take care of things, they would be able to say, "Hey, you've done a terrible job enforcing crime. Look at all this crime." Like, "What justifies your pay? You've done a terrible job of this. You've, uh, you know, you've confiscated resources from people and not returned them. You owe them that." You know, that was, uh, one of the things they were doing in the South, I forget what's-

Aaron Rodgers 1:13:33 In Florida.

Joe Rogan 1:13:33 Yeah.

Aaron Rodgers 1:13:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:33 It was...... couple, couple states were doing it, where they would pull you over and if y- s- like, say if you were on your way to go buy a car and you had $25,000, uh, in a bag, they would just confiscate that money.

Aaron Rodgers 1:13:46 Yeah, you-

Joe Rogan 1:13:46 And then you would have to prove... Even if you had a job, like you say, "Look, I make $100,000 a year. I saved up 25 grand, I'm gonna go buy this '69 Camaro." "No, no, no. We take that money and now, no, you have to prove that..." So you have to wait in court and then you have to somehow or another get a court order to give you that money back. And I think a large percentage of that money was never returned. And so it would go in coffers-

Aaron Rodgers 1:14:10 They impound your vehicle-

Joe Rogan 1:14:11 Yes.

Aaron Rodgers 1:14:11 ... and then sell your vehicle.

Joe Rogan 1:14:12 Yes, yes. And you would have to prove all these thing, that you weren't just... I mean, just, it's just cash. Like, meanwhile, if you have the exact same amount in the bank, "Oh, you're a good guy. You r- saved up your money. You're probably frugal." You know? "Look at this, he's got all this money in the bank, great." They, they don't... But how long before that happens? Like, "Why do you have all this money in the bank?"

Aaron Rodgers 1:14:31 Right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:14:32 You l- you know? "Well, you have $25,000 in the bank. Well, we're gonna freeze that money until we investigate how you acquired $25,000." I mean, all of these different draconian measures that they use to make their life easier and their life more, uh, more convenient and, and certainly enrich the coffers of these states and their, their budgets, that, that all would be eliminated if they were accountable and if there was, like, some sort of a privatized version of the police. He was making a very interesting argument about it, that I'd never really considered before. And, uh, you know, I don't know if that's the solution, but something has to change.

Aaron Rodgers 1:15:12 I don't think private prisons are the solution.

Joe Rogan 1:15:14 That's definitely not the solution. No. That's definitely not the solution. That i- that's incentivizing people to create ways where people are doing something illegal. And that's what we found when, when you look into, uh, marijuana legalization. One of the biggest prop- or opponents of marijuana legalization was prison guard unions. Prison guard unions wanted no part of that, because that's gonna have less people in prison, so there's gonna be less jobs for prison guards, which is fucking wild. So you're basically using people as a battery to generate money. You're basically using human beings and you're coming up with reasons to lock them up and put them in a cage and that generates revenue for your company. And you're actively trying to make sure that laws stay in place that are unjust, because those laws, as they are now, are profitable for you. You know, we were, um, reading about this case of this guy who, uh, he was selling c- pot to an undercover cop. He sold f- on four different occasions, he sold pot to an undercover cop and when you add up all the amount of pot that he sold, it was about an ounce. And they put him in jail for 15 years, and this is in Phoenix, which i- where marijuana is now legal. So this guy is in jail, in Phoenix, for 15 years, for selling something that you can now buy at a store.

Aaron Rodgers 1:16:40 Is he out now?

Joe Rogan 1:16:41 No, they denied his clemency because of his past record, which is t- I think is really ridiculous, 'cause if someone gets arrested and they do something and they get out, in my mind, they did their time.

Aaron Rodgers 1:16:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:52 This is a person that was punished for whatever crime. You can't apply this other crime that they've already been punished for to some new crime that, in my eyes, shouldn't be a crime at all. Especially the price-

Aaron Rodgers 1:17:04 Not, not violent crimes.

Joe Rogan 1:17:05 No.

Aaron Rodgers 1:17:05 D- it's t-

Joe Rogan 1:17:07 Well, that's a large percentage of the people that are in jail in this country. That's why the hypocrisy about the Brittney Griner, uh, i- uh, situation was so egregious in this country. Where Kamala Harris is talking about how horrible it is that Brittney Griner's in jail. Well, you put people in jail.

Aaron Rodgers 1:17:21 She signed... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:17:21 You did. Thousands of people-

Aaron Rodgers 1:17:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:17:24 ... in jail for marijuana. Yeah, it's crazy.

Aaron Rodgers 1:17:28 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:17:29 Hello? Yeah, and they were, that was w- like, the student, uh, loan f- debt