Joe Rogan Calls Out Government—'Completely Failed Us'
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Joe Rogan called out the federal government over its handling of last year's mysterious drone sightings in the United States on a new episode of his podcast.
They "completely failed us," he said on The Joe Rogan Experience.
Newsweek reached out to Rogan's representative via email for comment on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
Rogan is one of the most influential podcast hosts in the world, with The Joe Rogan Experience often number one on Spotify's podcasts charts.
Late last year, mysterious drones were spotted throughout Northeastern states, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. At the time, residents shared footage of alleged sightings on social media, raising concerns about security threats.
Joe Rogan performs standup comedy in Universal City, California, on April 3, 2010.
Joe Rogan performs standup comedy in Universal City, California, on April 3, 2010.
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
What To Know
On Saturday's episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan interviewed David Kipping, an astronomer and associate professor at Columbia University. At one point, their conversation turned to the topic of UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena).
"I wonder what they did with those in New Jersey when they were having all of those stupid drone sightings," Rogan said. "What was that all about? That was so strange."
"That's one of those things where I feel like the government completely failed us in explaining to people," the former Fear Factor host said. "Like is this some sort of top-secret military thing? Is this another country? Is this some sort of a private business that wants to test how fantastic their drones are. Like why? Why is this happening and why are you freaking everybody out?"
"It really sucks that we live in an age of drones and Starlink satellites, because if you see something in the sky now, your immediate reaction is that's probably a human controlled vehicle," Kipping said. "If you could go back to the 1940s, 1930s, if you had UAP reports then, I think they'd be more convincing because that's pre-Sputnik, there shouldn't be anything in orbit of the Earth at that point."
In January, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the first press briefing of President Donald Trump's second administration that, "after research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] for research and various other reasons... Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones...In time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy."
In December, Rogan said on X that he was "genuinely concerned" about the drones.
Along with his message, the UFC commentator shared a video from Saxon Unmanned founder, John Ferguson, whose company is a manufacturer of "custom remote aircraft systems," according to its website.
"The only reason why you would ever fly an unmanned aircraft at night is if you're looking for something," Ferguson said in the video. "So my belief is they're trying to smell something on the ground—gas leak, radioactive material, whatever."
What People Are Saying
In December, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said on This Week: "There's no question that people are seeing drones. I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings. Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones. But there's no question that drones are being sighted."
What Happens Next
New episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience are released weekly on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
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