Joe Rogan says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attempted to be a guest on his show

Joe Rogan claims Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to be on his podcast to discuss the Russian invasion, but it didn’t happen.

The turbulent streaming character asserted this during the Thanksgiving episode of his show, following his previous criticism of Zelensky for firing missiles into Russia.

Rogan didn’t explain whether he refused to let Zelensky on the podcast, or if, like with Vice President Kamala Harris, they simply couldn’t make it happen.

He was discussing the nearly three-year invasion with his guests and whether the conflict could escalate into another world war. 

‘I don’t really think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s that stupid. I think he’s gonna realize what’s going on and I think they’re probably working this out,’ he said.

‘Alex Jones said Trump is having secret meetings at Mar-a-Lago, I hope it’s true.’ 

Jones is a conspiracy theorist podcaster who made a career out of lies and misinformation until he was sued into bankruptcy by the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims. 

Rogan then out of left field dropped in ‘Zelensky tried to come on’, shocking his three guests, fellow podcasters Shane Gillis, Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir.

‘They tried to get Zelensky on. I was like, what are you talking about?’ he added.

Rogan then detailed how guests were generally chosen and booked for his show but didn’t go into specifics about Zelensky.

By contrast, fellow pro-Trump podcaster Lex Fridman said on Saturday he was so keen to do a three-hour podcast with Zelensky he would even travel to Ukraine for it.

‘Agreed. See you in Ukraine,’ Zelensky replied to Fridman’s tweet.

Just a week earlier, Rogan lashed out at the Ukrainian leader after US President Joe Biden gave his military permission to use American-made missiles to bomb Russia.

Zelensky says Putin is terrified. F**k you, man. F**k you people. You people are about to start World War III,’ he said.

Rogan’s outburst did not go down well with Ukrainians and former heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko, who offered to go on his podcast so they could settle their ‘points of difference’.

‘Putin’s Russia is in trouble, so Putin wants to scare you and people like you. His war was supposed to last three days. It lasted three years, thanks to the heroism and sacrifice of us Ukrainians,’ he said in a video on Twitter.

‘You’re using the only weapon that Putin really intends to use: propaganda. And this weapon really weakens our Democracies. Putin’s Russia wants to destroy Ukraine quietly.’ 

Klitschko is the brother of Vitali Klitschko, who was also world heavyweight champion and has been mayor of Ukrainian capital Kyiv since 2014.

Both brothers joined the Ukrainian army when the invasion began in February 2022 and fought in the Battle of Kyiv that saved the capital early in the war.

They together raised €100 million (US$105.8 million) for the war effort and humanitarian aid during a fundraising campaign in Germany during the first days of the war.

Rogan became progressively more pro-Donald Trump as the election campaign went on, before eventually endorsing him, and has parroted his views on issues like Ukraine.

On the same Thanksgiving episode, he claimed a ‘media psy-op’ was the reason people had a negative view of Trump – instead of his many extreme policies and statements.

‘What you’re seeing with Trump, regardless of his flaws, is a massive concentrated psy-op. They’ve distorted who he is to the point where most people think that way. Most people think that way. They’ve had narratives,’ he claimed, without evidence.

‘What is a psy-op? I keep hearing that,’ one guest asked.

‘Psychological operation. Where they’ve decided to distort people’s perceptions of things,’ Rogan replied.

Rogan also hinted that he planned to do a podcast from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, despite refusing to leave his studio to interview Harris.