American comedian Aries Spears has criticized Joe Rogan for his conflicting treatment of two similar situations. Rogan had gone on an all-out attack against another comedian, Carlos Mencia, in the 2000s for allegedly stealing jokes. However, when similar accusations were leveled at Amy Schumer, Rogan dealt with it differently.
In an interview with VLAD TV, Spears discussed Rogan’s hypocrisy. He acknowledged that stealing jokes is unethical, however, he was displeased with Rogan’s treatment of the cases. Spears said, “The Joe Rogan thing, he basically ended Carlos’s career.
“But then, he didn’t do the same, where was that same energy with Amy Schumer… They talked about this and he says uh ‘parallel thinking’ so for Amy Schumer it was parallel thinking but for Carlos it was ‘he’s a thief’.”
Mencia was enjoying a good time in his career in 2005 when Rogan wrote about him in a lengthy post. The UFC color commentator accused Mencia of stealing jokes. At the time, Mencia had earned a half-an-hour show on Comedy Central.
In 2007, Rogan confronted Mencia at the Comedy Store and had a heated argument. This led to Rogan being banned from the Comedy Store but also led to the downfall of Mencia. The Honduran-American comedian claimed he went through a tough time due to the accusations and had to go to therapy to deal with it.
On the other hand, in 2016, Schumer was accused of stealing jokes from several comedians including Tammy Pescatelli, Kathleen Madigan, and Wendy Liebman. However, Rogan’s justification of this was ‘parallel thinking’ as stated by Spears.
Joe Rogan regrets dealing with Carlos Mencia in anger but believes he did a good thing
Rogan’s stance against ‘cancel culture’ was becoming more prominent. He condemned the ‘cancellation’ of artists that led to their downfall. However, fans called out Rogan’s hypocrisy as he tried to cancel Mencia at a time when he was an aspiring comedian.
During the FLAGRANT podcast in 2022, Rogan discussed his treatment of Mencia. He claimed he did a good thing by protecting another comedian but was wrong to thrash Mencia. Rogan said, “I don’t like trashing fellow comedians. I genuinely don’t. During the moment of it [incident with Carlos Mencia] I felt bad.. A good thing was done where people were in danger of having their intellecutal property taken by someone who is far more successful.”
However, he agreed that his anger was not logical. He said, “The weird thing was the anger… A lot of this is not logical. The ways human beings react to things is we choose teams. We choose a side.”
Rogan has gone on to become one of the most famed personalities. He is a UFC commentator and runs one of the biggest podcasts in the world. He is no more in comparison with Mencia when it comes to wealth and fame.