Joe Rogan is being accused of promoting antisemitism after he defended Rep. Ilhan Omar’s, D-Minn., controversial 2019 remark “it’s all about the Benjamins” on his podcast Saturday, telling listeners that she’s not wrong for suggesting Jewish people are “into money.”
During a conversation with “Breaking Points” co-hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti about cancel culture, the multi-million dollar podcaster pointed to the case of Omar, who was recently booted from the Foreign Affairs Committee over her history of antisemitic rhetoric, specifically her past tweet where she declared that the U.S. relationship with Israel is “all about the Benjamins.”
“It’s just about money — she’s just talking about money,” he said. “That’s not an anti-Semitic statement, I don’t think that is.”
“Benjamins are money. The idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous,” he continued. “That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza. It’s f—ing stupid. It’s f—ing stupid.”
Rogan told listeners that “whether you agree with her or not,” Omar represented “a bold opinion” adding that “there’s many people that have that opinion, and they should be represented.”
The discussion prompted an uproar on social media, where critics accused the UFC commentator of “casually spouting antisemitism” to his 11 million listeners. Some users even tagged Spotify demanding they take action.
“[email protected] saying “the idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous,” Jewish conservative columnist Ian Haworth tweeted. “That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza” would make sense if Jews invented money and/or Italians had been massacred because of a conspiracy that they control the world through pizza.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “Disturbing that at a time of rising anti-Jewish violence, when growing numbers of Americans believe in antisemitic conspiracy theories, @joerogan would use his immense platform to spew antisemitic tropes about Jews and money.”
U.K. comedian and author of the book “Jews Don’t Count,” David Baddiel, scolded Rogan for “breezily” spreading a “racist myth”
“I actually want to stop banging the ‘Jews Don’t Count’ drum at some point but hard to do when a racist myth about Jews is just … said, breezily, on one of the biggest podcasts in the world and no-one gives a f–k,” Baddiel wrote to his 880,000 followers.
“For the hard of understanding, ‘Jews are into money’ is not like ‘Italians are into pizza,’” he added. “Because unless my history lessons really missed something out, no-one has exterminated a large section of the entire Italian community because of their love for pepperoni.”
“Also,” he continued. “Joe Rogan has a 200 Million dollar deal with Spotify. And yet apparently it’s Jews who are into money.”
David Draiman, the lead singer for Disturbed offered to enlighten Rogan about the dangers of propagating antisemitic tropes.
“Et tu @joerogan ? Listen, if you’d like to have an opportunity to talk to someone who can explain why perpetuating the stereotype that Jews love money more than any other race/creed/religion, leads to dangerous and disastrous consequences……I’m around. Let’s talk,” Draiman wrote.
“Joe Rogan: “the idea that Jews are not into money is ridiculous. That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza.”We’re Italians accused of controlling the global economy and subsequently mass murdered as a result of the false conspiracies? No,” Israeli-American philanthropist Adam Milstein tweeted.
“Joe Rogan said what?,” Fox News host Mark Levin responded.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-NY blasted “the notion that interest in money is uniquely Jewish,” calling it “Antisemitic garbage that should never be fed to an audience of millions.”
“The thing is, Joe Rogan, Italians were never slaughtered because of the pizza stereotype,” Jewish journalist Howard Lovy wrote. “But because idiots like you believe Jews are ‘into money,’ we have been marginalized, brutalized, and murdered for thousands of years. And it’s happening again.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. called Rogan’s comments “infuriating.”
“It’s despicable language like this that leads to attacks and threats against Jewish [email protected] has a massive platform and it’s infuriating to watch him and @krystalball promote blatant, dangerous antisemitic tropes, including those masquerading as anti-Israel sentiments,” he wrote.
National Review editor Phillip Klien reiterated the irony that Rogan, “who has a contract with Spotify worth over $200 million, wants you to know that it’s the Jews who are somehow uniquely ‘into money.’
The Jewish Federations of North America responded to Rogan in a statement on Wednesday, writing that “Once again, we are witnessing antisemitic tropes amplified by a person with an enormous megaphone. Normalizing antisemitism dehumanizes Jews and makes everyone less safe. This must stop. #JoeRogan”
The post Joe Rogan blasted for peddling antisemitic trope after defending Ilhan Omar’s ‘Benjamin’s’ remark: ‘Et Tu?’ appeared first on Fox News.
