Following his public lambasting, resulting from mingling with anti-vaxxers and a widely spread supercut of him repeatedly using a racial slur, Joe Rogan has been approached by Canadian-based video streamer, Rumble, to join their platform.
The request was put forth to the podcast superstar yesterday via Twitter, in which Rumble founder and CEO, Chris Pavlovski, offered Rogan a humble $US100 million ($A140m) to move his entire library from Spotify to Rumble.
“Dear Joe, we stand with you, your guests and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” the letter reads.
“So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place.”
“How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years?”
The letter concludes, “This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit.”
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski… pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
— Rumble 🏴☠️ (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
As if the messiah complex forcibly thrust upon Rogan by his legion of fans wasn’t peculiar enough, Rumble has come along to add further urgency to the podcaster’s career and life.
While Rogan is yet to respond, the proposition begs a few questions; namely, where did Rumble come from? And how in the blue hell do they have a casual 100 million dollars lying around?
Big Tech sucks.@Spotify gives in to the mob. Cowards.@joerogan should move to @rumblevideo https://t.co/daYx1IFtDr
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 5, 2022
Joe Rogan needs to upload all his episodes—especially the ones removed by Spotify—on Rumble. Rumble now seems to be the only video platform that protects open debate. Facebook and YouTube are the Pravda and Izvestia of our time, vehicles of state-approved propaganda
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 5, 2022
“Rumble is designed to be the rails and independent infrastructure that is immune to cancel culture,” said Pavlovksi.
“We are a movement that does not stifle, censor or punish creativity and believe everyone benefits from access to a neutral network with diverse ideas and opinions.”
Pavlovski founded Rumble in 2013, following his previous experience running video sharing site, jokeroo.com a few years before.
In 2020, Republican California Representative, Devin Nunes began uploading his weekly podcast on the site, following his complaints over YouTube’s censorship guidelines.
The platform quickly gained traction with conservatives and anti-woke types, becoming a home for right-wing commentators such as Dan Bongino, writers Dinesh D’Souza and John Solomon, and pro-Trump online personalities, Diamond and Silk.
As of May last year, Rumble boasts an estimated $US500 million market value, owing in-part to investments by conservative venture capitalists, Pete Thiel and J.D. Vance, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Pavlovski himself is estimated to have a $US77 million net worth.
While these metrics are comparatively slight – YouTube has a over 2 billion monthly active users compared with Rumble’s 39 million – the burgeoning platform certainly seems capable of coming through with its hefty Twitter offering.
Even Rogan himself has previously given his kudos to the right-leaning video platform.
“As long as places like Rumble exist, you know, and I think they’re going to grow … I’m not over there, but I certainly would be,” he said in an October 2021 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
While it’s unsure whether Pavlovski’s offer will be enough to lure the podcasting giant, recent numbers suggest it’s already proving fruitful for the growing video platform.
According to Insider, shares in special purpose acquisition company, CF Acquisition Corp. VI – which merged with Rumble last year – popped as high as 43 per cent on Monday following Pavlovski’s Twitter offer.
Right wing, left wing, chicken wing. Regardless of political leanings, only time will tell if Rogan is willing to further expand his wealth – as well as that of Rumble’s – in the purported name of free speech.
