Gavin Newsom drops f-bomb over Joe Rogan’s pandemic questions: 'We were certainly aggressive at scale'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: California Governor Gavin Newsom was forced to address some of his controversial Covid-era policies as he responded to a series of "tough" questions from podcast giant Joe Rogan.

The 57-year-old Democratic leader appeared on the 'Shawn Ryan Show' podcast on Monday, July 14, where the host revealed that the conservative firebrand had submitted several questions for him. 

Gavin Newsom fires back at Joe Rogan's harsh vaccine questions

"Motherf****r!" Gavin Newsom exclaimed when host Shawn Ryan revealed that 57-year-old podcaster Joe Rogan had texted him. The California governor then went on to say that, despite Rogan’s frequent criticism of his party, he remains a fan of the popular host.

"What did he say? I'm a Joe Rogan fan. He ain't a fan of mine, but I'm a Joe Rogan fan. No bulls**t! He won't have me on the show, by the way," Newsom admitted.

Ryan proceeded to warn Newsom about the “tough” questions Rogan had sent and began reading them aloud. In his message, Rogan accused the governor of enforcing "draconian" Covid-19 vaccine mandates for children, ignoring known risks like myocarditis, and prioritizing pharmaceutical interests.

"Who will be held accountable for mandating Covid-19 vaccines for children, which were unnecessary and ineffective, and who will take responsibility for the unprecedented increases in myocarditis and cancer cases among them?” one of Rogan’s questions read.

Ryan continued: “Second to that, do you feel any remorse for that draconian decision that was obviously heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical companies’ desire for maximum profit?”

Newsom quickly pushed back, rejecting Rogan’s claims that he was influenced by pharmaceutical companies. He emphasized that he has implemented “some of the most progressive laws” targeting Big Pharma in the country.

"I mean, Florida shut down their bars and restaurants before California. The question was, when did we start to unwind some of those restrictions? California was more restrictive, and we were certainly aggressive at scale," he explained.

Newsom added that his team is working on an “objective review” to evaluate both the successes and failures of California’s Covid-era policies, and to compare them with how other states handled the pandemic. 

Gavin Newsom deflects criticism towards Donald Trump

While emphasizing that vaccines “save lives,” Gavin Newsom said he respected Joe Rogan’s questions and noted that he had received “a lot of feedback” from independent advisors about vaccine safety.

“I took their advice, not as a doctor, but as a governor. So, with humility, seriously, humility and grace, I've asked them to have that report done. It's going to be done next month. And it'll be the only state that I know of that is putting out a truly objective review of what went right and what went wrong,” he added.

“I know everyone’s a Godd*** genius now in hindsight. But at the time, none of us knew what we were up against, including the President of the United States, who I worked very closely with,” he said.

Newsom then appeared to shift some of the blame toward President Donald Trump, stating that he had worked more closely with Trump than any other Democratic governor during the pandemic. 

“And I say that with the kind of humility he deserves as well, grace that he deserves in terms of the decisions he made early on. We were all up against something none of us had any experience on,” he said.

When asked if he had any regrets about decisions made during the pandemic, Newsom cited the closure of outdoor spaces, like beaches, as one he would have handled differently.

The governor also argued that California was unfairly singled out as a symbol of failed pandemic policy, despite states like Florida taking many of the same early actions.