Joe Rogan mocks Prince Harry over COVID-19 vaccines in Netflix stand-up special: ‘B—h, you’re not a scientist!’
Joe Rogan made fun of Prince Harry in his new Netflix special, impersonating the prince and revealing how he wants to do mushrooms with the royal so he could challenge his views on COVID-19 vaccines.
In his latest comedy special, “Burn the Boats,” the controversial podcast host, 57, weighed in on a statement Harry and Meghan Markle made in January 2022 “expressing concerns” about COVID misinformation being spread on Spotify, which was widely interpreted as specifically referencing content created by Rogan.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had a $20 million deal with Spotify to produce Markle’s “Archetypes” podcast. The royals and the streaming service parted ways in June 2023.
“I got canceled so often during COVID that sometimes I would find out by accident,” Rogan joked. “This is a true story. One time I just woke up; I’m in my underwear; I plop down, turn the TV on and Prince Harry’s talking s–t about me. I’m like, ‘I just woke up. I’m vulnerable. I’m in my underwear and there is a prince on TV talking about me.’ ”
Rogan added, “Do you know how f–king weird it is when a prince knows your name?
“He’s like, ‘Joe Rogan is giving out dangerous vaccine misinformation,’ ” Rogan said. “And my first thought was, ‘F–k, did I?’ “
But despite the teasing, Rogan doesn’t seem to have any ill will toward the prince.
“I’m not even mad at Harry, if I was him I would have said the same s–t,” he explained. “If I met that dude, I’d love to have a drink with him. I think if I met that dude, I’d say, ‘Man, I’m not mad at you.’ ”
However, drinks aren’t the only mind-altering substance he’d want to partake of with Harry.
“The goal would be to get him about three drinks deep and go, ‘Hey, man, you ever do mushrooms?’ ”
Doing his best Harry impression, he said, mockingly, “ ‘I heard they give you brain damage.’ ”
“No, no, no, that the government, that’s propaganda,” Rogan went on, playing out the imaginary conversation with the royal. “Listen, whatever you eat, I’ll eat double. Come on. Let’s go meet the aliens,” he quipped.
“Could you imagine doing mushrooms with Prince Harry? You imagine if you could trick that guy into doing mushrooms with you?,” he said, smiling at the thought of the scenario.
“The moment you see him, chew it and swallow it. There’s a moment when you do mushrooms, like 20 minutes after you swallow it, when you know you can’t throw it up anymore.”
“And you’re like, ‘Oh no, it’s going to happen,’ and you’re sitting eye to eye with the prince,” he added.
“And here’s the thing. Mushrooms take about 40 minutes to kick in, but about 35 minutes in, you hear them coming. You hear footsteps in the distance. Meanwhile, Prince Harry is tripping balls.”
At that point, Rogan said, he would “hover over him and say: ‘Are you sure vaccines are safe?’ Bitch, you’re not a scientist.”
In his 2023 memoir, “Spare,” Harry revealed that he did psychedelic mushrooms at Courteney Cox’s house in 2016. He also said he has taken other illicit substances including cocaine and cannabis.
Harry and Meghan’s statement about COVID misinformation came at a time when Rogan was under intense scrutiny after a December 2021 episode of his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” in which he interviewed virologist and vaccine skeptic Dr. Robert Malone.
“Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform,” a spokesperson for the royals said in a statement in January 2022. “We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”
Rogan’s three-hour interview with Malone was far-ranging and included wild claims, such as making a false equivalence between COVID-19 vaccines and Nazi medical experiments.
In the wake of the interview, artists such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify, where Rogan’s podcast streamed exclusively following a $100 million deal he signed in 2020.
Rogan addressed his past comments on COVID elsewhere in his comedy special, saying, “If you’re getting your vaccine advice from me, is that really my fault?” The former “Fear Factor” host also made fun of trans people in the show.