J.D. Vance, running mate to former President Donald Trump, will be interviewed by Joe Rogan on Wednesday, following Rogan's decision to decline an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris due to her campaign's conditions.
The Harris campaign had requested that Rogan travel to her location and limit the interview to just one hour. After news of these demands surfaced, the Trump campaign quickly took the opportunity to secure an interview for Vance. They agreed to Rogan's preference of recording the episode at his Austin studio. A spokesperson for Vance confirmed that the interview will be taped on Wednesday and released later this week.
Vance's appearance comes just days after Rogan hosted Trump for a three-hour conversation that has since amassed over 37 million views on YouTube. However, as the video gained popularity, fans noticed that it was difficult to find in YouTube’s search results, sparking accusations of censorship. Instead of the interview, news coverage of the conversation appeared at the top of the search results.
Rogan addressed the issue by posting the full episode on X, explaining, “there’s an issue with searching for this episode on YouTube.” He also spoke about the Harris campaign's requests, clarifying, “the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast,” but they had offered a date that required him to travel and restricted the interview to one hour. Rogan reiterated his desire for a relaxed conversation in his Austin studio, hoping to get to know Harris as "a human being."
Talks between Rogan and the Harris campaign had been ongoing since earlier this month, but only the Trump campaign committed to pre-election interviews for both candidates on the GOP ticket. It remains doubtful that Harris will agree to Rogan’s terms, especially with her busy schedule leading up to the election.
Ian Sams, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, stated last week, “We talked with Rogan and his team about the podcast. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to work out right now due to the timing of this period in the campaign.”
During Friday's episode, Trump and Rogan discussed the possibility of Harris joining the show. While Trump joked that Harris might "be laying on the floor comatose" if she participated, Rogan expressed a sincere wish to engage her in a thoughtful conversation.
“I would try to talk to her like a human being, not as an interview, but just to have a conversation and hopefully get to know her,” Rogan said. “That was my goal.”
Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is the most popular show on Spotify, with over 14 million followers. His YouTube channel has more than 18 million subscribers, regularly garnering millions of views per video.
