Joe Rogan is firing back after newly released Justice Department documents revealed that Jeffrey Epstein once tried to arrange a meeting with the podcast giant â years after Epsteinâs 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The revelation surfaced in a massive DOJ file dump tied to the disgraced financier. Among the documents was a 2017 email exchange between Epstein and Canadian theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, a former guest on The Joe Rogan Experience.
In the email, Epstein reportedly told Krauss he had watched his appearance on Roganâs podcast and found the host âfunny.â He then asked Krauss to arrange an introduction.
That effort, according to both the documents and Rogan himself, went nowhere.
âIâm in the files for not going because Jeffrey Epstein was trying to meet with me,â Rogan said Tuesday during an episode featuring actress Cheryl Hines, who is married to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Hines asked Rogan whether he was glad he never met Epstein.
âYeah, but I never wouldâve went anyway,â Rogan responded, making clear the idea was dead on arrival. He added that after looking Epstein up, there was no scenario where he would have agreed to a meeting.
âItâs like, itâs not even a possibility that I wouldâve ever went, especially after I Googled him,â Rogan said.
According to the Sept. 25, 2017 email included in the DOJ documents, Krauss told Epstein he would reach out to Rogan â or at least his producers â to explore the possibility of a meeting. Days later, Krauss followed up with Epstein, relaying Roganâs rejection and reportedly describing the podcaster as more âtimid than I would have thought.â
Rogan had a far more blunt recollection of the exchange.
âI was like, bâh, are you high?â Rogan said, recounting his reaction to the suggestion. âLike what the fâk are you talking about?â
He went on to say that only people âinterested in sucking up to the rich and powerfulâ would want to be associated with Epstein.
The resurfaced email is just one piece of a sprawling document release that included never-before-seen photos of Epstein with high-profile figures such as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, and former President Bill Clinton.
Public fascination with the Epstein case reignited last year after the FBI and DOJ released a joint memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide in jail and did not maintain a âclient listâ of powerful men involved in trafficking underage girls â a finding that pushed back against years of speculation.
For Rogan, however, the takeaway was simple: he never met Epstein, never planned to, and shut down the request immediately.
Now, nearly a decade later, the paper trail confirms it.