2 hours Ago By Riley Walter, Josefine Ganko
It’s likely that before ABC chair Kim Williams’ National Press Club address on Wednesday, the world’s biggest podcaster, Joe Rogan, had never heard of the urbane public broadcaster boss. On paper, the pair could not be further apart; Williams, a former professional clarinettist, adores classical music and has spent his adult life immersed in the arts. Rogan, on the other hand, has courted the millions of listeners of his program, The Joe Rogan Experience , with conversations on martial arts, recreational drug use and any number of other topics in episodes stretching to more than three hours long.
ABC chair Kim Williams (centre) has found himself in an unlikely war of words with Joe Rogan (left) and drawn criticism from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk (right). Yet after Williams offered his scathing opinion of Rogan to a room full of Australian journalists, he found himself in the most unlikely of trans-Pacific media spats. What happened? Williams sparked the unexpected war of words on Wednesday when he responded to a question about Rogan’s influence on the US election, and whether the ABC should be trying to capture the “bro market” Rogan has cornered with his chart-topping podcast.
Loading In the 15 years since The Joe Rogan Experience launched, the show has become the world’s most popular podcast, topping the charts in the United States and Australia. Williams opened by saying he was not well-placed to answer the question because he is “not a consumer or enthusiast of Mr Rogan and his work” before launching an attack. “I think that people like Mr Rogan prey on people’s vulnerabilities.
They prey on fear. They prey on anxiety. They prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society, and they entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative,” he said.
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