Trump brushes off Joe Rogan’s criticism of White House UFC event: ‘That’s not nice’

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump’s once-friendly bond with Joe Rogan appeared to fracture even further after the president publicly fired back at Rogan’s criticism of the UFC’s upcoming event at the White House.

The 58-year-old UFC announcer, who endorsed Trump in 2024 and became a prominent voice in the “manosphere,” dismissed the planned UFC event on the White House South Lawn as little more than a “gimmick.”

“Yeah, I'm not thrilled about that,” Rogan told comedian Mark Normand when asked if he would attend the event during an episode of his popular podcast in March. 

“Yeah, I'll be there, but I'm not thrilled about it; it doesn't seem like a wise idea,” he continued before adding, “It's kind of a gimmick, you know, there's that.”

Trump fires back at Joe Rogan criticism

The 79-year-old president recently sat down for an interview with Time Magazine for a profile of UFC chief Dana White, where he was asked about Rogan’s criticism of the upcoming event.

“At first I thought, 'That's not nice,' … And then I realized, it is a gimmick,” Trump replied. “Life is a gimmick, if you think about it, right? But it's a good gimmick. It's something that will never happen again.”

“Nobody will ever have the privilege of doing something like this in front of the White House. It's going to be very unique. It's going to be amazing. I think it's great for America, frankly,” he continued.

Rogan’s podcast once served as one of Trump’s most powerful launchpads during the 2024 election, giving the then-candidate an unfiltered three-hour platform that ended with the influential host throwing his support behind Trump just days before his victory.

But the once-friendly alliance has steadily cooled in recent months, with Rogan, who often describes himself as a political centrist, openly bashing Trump over an array of issues, including the handling of the Iran conflict, his aggressive immigration crackdown, and the Justice Department’s approach to the Epstein files.

Last month, the wildly successful podcaster threw a jab at the president over an AI-generated Truth Social post that appeared to depict him in a Jesus-like avatar.

Joe Rogan slams Trump’s $1.8B slush fund

Rogan once again appeared to break ranks with the president as he raised questions over Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund plot, calling it ‘crazy’.

The president previously agreed to withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department in exchange for a massive $1.8 billion fund from the Department of Justice.

He said the fund would be used to repay people who had been unfairly targeted by previous administrations, including some Jan 6 insurrectionists, a move that has drawn criticism even from GOP allies.

“That is so crazy,” Rogan said in conversation with guest Tom Segura on a new episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience.'

“Imagine somebody accused you of murder, yeah, and it turns out you weren’t guilty of that murder. Then you sue them and go, ‘You can never prosecute me for murder again.’ And then you just go straight Uday Hussein,” he continued.

Uday, who died in a gory siege under fire from U.S. forces in 2003, was an Iraqi politician and Saddam Hussein’s son, infamous for his sadism and cruelty.