One of the main reasons Joe Rogan has the most popular podcast in the world is that he is willing to have conversations on unconventional, at times, even controversial topics on his platform. While this may have led him into hot waters, especially during the pandemic, it has not diminished his popularity. One such controversial guest was John McAfee, founder of McAfee anti-virus who appeared on episode #290 of the JRE podcast back in 2012 when he was on the run from law enforcement due to suspicions of murder.

The tech pioneer was later arrested and was found dead in a Spanish prison following approval of his extradition to the USA. While his death was ruled a suicide, some speculate that he didn’t die that way as he had warned as much in a tweet. Prior to death, he had apparently referenced Jeffery Epstein’s death and wrote that if he is found dead, he wouldn’t be the one responsible. And Joe Rogan discussed the controversial tech mogul on his podcast with his friends.

Joe Rogan recalls the colorful John McAfee

Joe Rogan had his friends and comedians Shane Gillis and Mark Normand for another ‘Protect Our Parks’ episode of the JRE podcast. During the course of the podcast, the trio started talking about controversial tech icon John McAfee and the controversy around his death.

Rogan revealed that while he had McAfee on episode 290 of his podcast back in 2012, he was the only guest that he had who called into the podcast as he was on the run from law enforcement and had alleged that ‘they’ were out to get him and had framed him for the murder of his neighbor.

“John McAfee was one of the only guys that I just had on the phone I didn’t even have him live on the podcast, I had him on the phone. We did a podcast with him when he was running from the law in his country because someone, he says, they set him up by killing his neighbor,” he said.

In addition, Rogan claimed that McAfee used to run a meth lab, although he got a few details wrong.“But he was also, allegedly, online showing people how to cook meth. There was an account that was linked to him that was like he had a lab in his backyard, I mean it’s documented, this dude had a f***ing full-on, he was a genius billionaire, a full-on meth lab,” Rogan added.

While McAfee, who had started a lab to develop special antibiotics in Belize, where he had moved in 2008, was arrested in 2012 by the police there on suspicion he was making meth in the lab, he was never charged for it.

When Rogan had McAfee back in 2o12, few people knew about the podcast as it was in its early days, back when Rogan would record podcast episodes at his home with his former producer Redban. Now, however, Rogan has the most valuable podcast in the world as his recent deal with Spotify attests to.

Rogan signs $250-million extension with Spotify

Joe Rogan signed a multi-year extension with Spotify reportedly worth around $250 million for his JRE podcast earlier this year. The UFC commentator had signed with the streaming platform in the largest podcast deal in history back in 2020 reportedly worth around $200 million over three years.

While the extension has made him more money than before, Rogan has managed to get some more significant concessions from the platform. One of these is that, unlike the previous deal, the JRE podcast will no longer be exclusively available on Spotify and will allow Rogan to stream it on other platforms such as YouTube, Apple Podcasts, etc., opening up a significant source of revenue for the Texas resident. What do you think about Rogan’s latest deal with podcast?

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