Last year Joe Rogan had quite a few polarizing moments on his popular podcast. From calling out Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama for their DNC speech to shredding a New York Times piece for America’s founding document, Rogan didn’t hold back. In addition to the fact that America’s most popular podcast for a fourth year had Donald Trump and Elon Musk as guests, there was hardly a dull moment.

The start of 2025 has been no different for the Joe Rogan Experience, with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg making quite a splash a couple of weeks ago. But this time around, UFC’s color commentator finds himself in the crosshairs of fans after his latest guest Lex Fridman, an MIT physicist and AI researcher, made some comments that didn’t sit well with the online community.

Fridman is well-known for his extensive podcast interviews with entrepreneurs and world leaders like Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Elon Musk. He joined Rogan on JRE #2260 on Tuesday and discussed a wide range of topics from social and public perception to historical figures and their impact.

One name that surprisingly popped up during the conversation was Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire. Fridman dived into the historical impact of Genghis Khan and his military warfare before mentioning how despite his brutality the Mongol ruler exhibited some redeeming qualities.

Fridman said, “Genghis Khan from everything I understand was not progressive but he was very pragmatic. This is why he allowed all religions, which is (why) Thomas Jefferson I should say deeply admired Genghis Khan for this- the freedom of religion and he didn’t just say freedom of religion, it’s freedom of an individual to practice any religion they want which is like individualism. A revolutionary badass idea for that time for that place.”

He also added how Genghis Khan rewarded meritocracy saying, “He would put women in power. Why, is he a feminist? No. He understood that men conquer better in his perspective and women rule better because they keep a stable society.” Fridman also shared his thoughts on the Ukraine-Russia war and how Vladimir Putin’s “perspective needs to be heard and understood” at the negotiation table.

He added, “You can’t just say Putin is evil, bad guy, authoritarian, hates freedom, we need to destroy him…you have to respect leaders.” Now Rogan isn’t a stranger when it comes to making bold remarks on his podcast.

Last year, he talked about Oprah Winfrey’s DNC speech where she mentioned that the work of maintaining a democracy “requires standing up to life’s bullies.” On his podcast, Rogan questioned Winfrey’s speech saying, “Oprah was talking about her and Trump running together, and now she’s speaking to the DNC that he’s a threat to democracy and she’s up there talking about income inequality, like, ‘Hey lady… you’re rich as f—.’ I’m like, ‘How is that equal?’” He also didn’t spare Michelle Obama.

Michelle talked about how her mother showed her “the meaning of hard work and humility and decency,” and how “they were suspicious of folks who took more than they needed.” Rogan hit back at her saying, “Also when Michelle Obama was saying, you know, I think she was saying her mother or grandmother was always suspicious of people who took more than they needed, like, you are worth so much money. That’s so crazy. You did it on a civil servant’s salary, which is insane.”

However, this time, Fridman’s comments on the podcast did not sit well with a section of the online community who called out Rogan for the episode quality and believed the podcast episode with Fridman was a dud.

Fans call out Joe Rogan for a poor podcast episode

As soon as the new episode hit the internet, fans quickly called out the JRE host. With help from social media platforms such as Reddit, the JRE community let the UFC commentator know that Rogan is simply testing his audience’s intelligence with guests relying on theories and assumptions.

Many simply called out the episode for being boring and not as insightful as they used to be. One fan wrote, “Holy s**t, it’s insufferable,” and another mentioned, “I think I’ll basically watch Joe Rogan through Kyle Kulinski clips from now on instead of watching the show. This is insufferable.”

Many viewers were quick to point out that the way Lex Fridman was putting things was more harmful than helpful. It is also not the first time, Fridman has brought up Genghis Khan. Four years ago, on his own podcast, Fridman debated whether Genghis Khan was good or evil with former UFC fighter Ryan Hall.

During his chat with Rogan, he brought up his interview with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in early January and that he plans to interview Vladimir Putin as well. But some fans were clearly not interested in the entire conversation. Taking to the comments, they wrote, “Just think how many idiots tune into these two idiots to form their world view” and another fan wrote, “Lex Fridman is the king of someone who thinks and acts like they’re smarter than they really are.”

Some fans also made it clear that they want a variety of guests rather than ones that sing the same tunes. Some fans were disappointed by the fact that the UFC commentator no longer brings people with opposite views. In fact, Fridman has made quite a few appearances on the podcast and was also a guest last year.

Hence, some people appear fed up with this repetition. A voicing his displeasure shared, “Is Rogan nowadays just simply rotating through the same list of guests who basically all have the exact same opinion?”

Another fan called out the alleged lack of quality guests on the podcast writing, “Rogan’s high-caliber guests dropped off a cliff once he moved to Texas.” While the likes of  Neil  deGrasse Tyson have appeared on JRE since Rogan’s move to Texas in 2020, the fans are still demanding better quality of guests as compared to Fridmanm, with one fan writing a scathing comment, “A random paleontologist without anything to sell would be far more interesting than 90% of his guests nowadays.”

What did you think of the latest JRE episode? Do you agree with the criticisms shared by the fans? Let us know in the comments.