Joe Rogan Pushes Back Against Kamala Harris’s Claim He ‘Lied’ About Her Refusal to Discuss Marijuana on His Podcast
Podcast Host Denies Former Vice President’s Account in Her New Book “107 Days”
Podcast host Joe Rogan is publicly disputing Kamala Harris’s claim that he “lied” about her alleged unwillingness to discuss marijuana legalization during a planned podcast appearance ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The controversy resurfaced after the former vice president released her new book, “107 Days,” which recounts her brief campaign for the presidency following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race. Harris’s retelling of the failed podcast appearance directly contradicts Rogan’s version of events—rekindling debate over her record on cannabis and criminal justice.
Rogan Reaffirms His Account: “They Didn’t Want to Talk About Marijuana”
Speaking on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan doubled down on his previous claims that Harris’s campaign team had tried to limit what topics he could discuss with her, including marijuana legalization.
“They never wanted to do the whole thing,” Rogan said. “They wanted me to do like a 45-minute thing in a different place. Her team did say there’s some things she didn’t want to talk about—and then they denied that.”
Rogan added that he found the situation “hilarious,” especially since Harris’s public stance supported federal legalization. He claimed that the campaign’s reluctance to discuss cannabis stemmed from concerns about her prosecutorial record in California, where critics say she oversaw hundreds of marijuana-related convictions during her time as San Francisco district attorney and later state attorney general.
Harris’s Version: “We Suggested Marijuana—He Didn’t Want to Talk About It”
In her memoir, Harris paints a very different picture. She says her campaign was the one that proposed discussing marijuana legalization, alongside topics such as social media censorship and cryptocurrency, but Rogan’s team allegedly rejected those ideas.
“The then-vice president’s team suggested topics that might interest Rogan’s audience such as cannabis, social media censorship, and crypto,” Harris wrote. “Rogan’s team said they just wanted to discuss the economy, immigration, and abortion.”
Harris accused the podcaster of spreading falsehoods after the election, writing that Rogan “has lied on his show, claiming we pushed for tight topic restrictions” and that he “even claimed that the very topics we had suggested were ones we’d refused to discuss.”
How the Interview Fell Apart: Scheduling Conflicts and a Missed Opportunity
According to Harris, the failed interview ultimately came down to scheduling conflicts and Rogan’s refusal to record remotely. Rogan reportedly insisted that any interview take place in his Austin studio, which conflicted with Harris’s tight campaign schedule.
She also wrote that her team proposed a recording date in October 2024, but was told Rogan was taking a “personal day.” Later, she claimed to have learned that Rogan spent that same day interviewing Donald Trump—who went on to defeat her in the election, securing a second presidential term.
Rogan, who endorsed Trump shortly before the election, did not deny interviewing the Republican candidate that day, though he has maintained that the Harris appearance simply “didn’t work out.”
The Cannabis Question: A Lingering Political Liability for Harris
The disagreement has once again drawn attention to Harris’s complicated history with cannabis policy.
As a U.S. senator, Harris co-sponsored the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which sought to end federal prohibition and expunge prior convictions. During her 2024 campaign, she reaffirmed her support for legalization at the federal level, calling it a “commonsense reform.”
However, critics—including Rogan—have repeatedly highlighted her earlier career in law enforcement, accusing her of hypocrisy.
“She put a lot of people in jail for weed—1,500 apparently,” Rogan said during the latest episode, referencing a figure that has circulated widely among critics.
Harris, in her book, sought to correct what she described as “mischaracterizations” of her record. “When I became a district attorney, this country was in an even worse place than it is now on criminal justice,” she wrote. “I was one of the first elected progressive DAs, looking for ways to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail rather than put them in it. I didn’t seek jail time for simple marijuana offenses.”
The Numbers Behind the Debate
According to data compiled by the Bay Area News Group, Harris’s office oversaw 1,956 convictions for misdemeanor and felony marijuana offenses between 2004 and 2010. Of those cases, 45 people were sentenced to state prison, though it remains unclear how many served time in county jail.
While these figures complicate the claim that she jailed “thousands” for marijuana, they also fuel ongoing criticism that she failed to lead meaningful criminal justice reform early in her career.
Trump and Rogan: A Shared Critique of Harris’s Record
During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump also seized on Harris’s prosecutorial background, alleging that she had “put thousands and thousands of Black people in jail for marijuana.” Rogan echoed similar criticisms on his podcast, arguing that her past actions were inconsistent with her pro-legalization messaging.
Trump, meanwhile, took a more nuanced stance on cannabis in his second campaign. In the final weeks before the election, he endorsed federal cannabis rescheduling and supported a Florida marijuana legalization ballot measure—though it ultimately failed to meet the 60 percent threshold required for passage.
Since returning to office, Trump’s administration has continued the marijuana rescheduling process that began under Biden, though progress has stalled. In late August, the president said a final decision could come “within weeks,” raising hopes among reform advocates for a significant federal policy shift.
Rogan’s Podcast as a Political Platform
The dispute between Rogan and Harris underscores how influential The Joe Rogan Experience has become in American political discourse. With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, Rogan’s platform often shapes narratives around hot-button issues, including drug policy, free speech, and media bias.
During the 2024 election, several major candidates—including Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard—appeared on Rogan’s show. Harris’s absence became a point of criticism from both conservatives and independent voters who viewed her reluctance as evidence of media avoidance or message control.
Rogan’s willingness to revisit the controversy nearly a year later suggests that he sees the episode as emblematic of broader political dynamics—where candidates seek to curate public appearances rather than engage in unfiltered dialogue.
A Broader Conversation About Cannabis and Credibility
Beyond the personal back-and-forth, the Rogan-Harris feud highlights the evolving politics of marijuana legalization. Public opinion continues to trend overwhelmingly in favor of reform—70 percent of Americans now support legal adult use—but partisan divides persist in how candidates frame their histories and positions.
For Harris, the issue has long been double-edged: while she supports legalization today, her past enforcement record remains an easy target for critics who question her authenticity. For Rogan, cannabis remains a cultural touchstone—a subject that bridges politics, science, and individual freedom.
A Clash of Narratives, Not Just Personalities
The renewed exchange between Joe Rogan and Kamala Harris is less about a single podcast that never happened and more about trust, image, and accountability in the modern media era.
Harris insists her team was eager to discuss marijuana; Rogan maintains she wanted to avoid it. Both claim to represent the truth but the real story may lie in the intersection between political caution and the unfiltered nature of new media.
As the dust settles, one thing is clear: the fight over who wanted to talk about marijuana says as much about America’s evolving conversation on cannabis and credibility as it does about either of the high-profile figures at its center.
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