Joe Rogan is finally firing back after Chelsea Handler took a swipe at reports claiming he pulls in a whopping $82 million a year from his podcast.
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It all started when Forbes named The Joe Rogan Experience the highest-earning podcast of 2026, estimating the UFC commentator made about $82 million over the past year from it. However, this ticked off Handler, who did not mince words while sharing her opinion on it. So, as the topic eventually found its way onto Joe Rogan’s podcast, instead of getting upset, he simply laughed it off.
“That’s funny. She’s rich,” Rogan said on his podcast episode with guest Andrew Wilson. “That’s crazy. That’s what she said? I make too much? There’s a certain number I should make?”
Rather than firing back, Joe Rogan revealed that the criticism actually caught him off guard since the two have actually known each other for years.
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USA Today via Reuters
“I think she’s just getting attention. I can’t be bothered, but I know her,” he continued. “I’ve known her forever. I wrote a blurb for one of her earlier books. Never had a bad word to say about her publicly. Every time I’ve seen her, I think I’ve given her a hug.
“So, I don’t know what’s going on. But it has nothing to do with me, you know, whatever it is. It’s zero to do with me.”
While his guest chalked it up to “jealousy,” Rogan refused to tear into her the same way she did when it came to him. For the unaware, Chelsea Handler didn’t hold back when reacting to Forbes’ rankings.
“WHO IS PAYING JOE ROGAN 82 million?” she wrote in an Instagram comment. “Give that to our vets, or our children!!!
“82 million to be completely uninformed and say ‘whoopsie doodle’ every time he’s wrong, which is FREQUENT?”
The timing of the exchange comes after another massive year for The Joe Rogan Experience. Launched in 2009, the show now has an estimated 11 million listeners and views per episode, making it Spotify’s biggest global podcast while simultaneously ranking first on Apple Podcasts as well. And that’s not all.
Spotify renewed Joe Rogan’s contract in 2024 with a reported four-year, $250 million contract. The UFC commentator wasn’t the only big winner among Forbes’ highest-paid podcasters.
Ashley Flowers, presenter of Crime Junkie, reportedly made $42 million; SmartLess hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes made $37 million; and Mel Robbins and New Heights hosts Jason and Travis Kelce earned $35 million each.
It’s also worth mentioning that Chelsea Handler isn’t the only public figure to attack Joe Rogan. Musician Neil Young famously demanded that Spotify remove his songs from Spotify by 2022, as he accused the JRE host of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines on the very same platform.
But while The Joe Rogan Experience is arguably the biggest podcast in the world, Rogan says it spent years doing the exact opposite of making him rich.
Joe Rogan claims his podcast lost money for five years
During an episode with Bert Sorin, Joe Rogan claimed that the podcast was “totally non-profitable” for about five years after it first launched in 2009.
“Pretty weird that I didn’t even try [to have an impact on the world],” Rogan explained. “That’s the weird, that’s the weirdest part. It was all an accident, like 100%, like I just felt like this is what I should do.
“I should start a podcast, and then I should keep doing it even when it was totally non-profitable for like five years. I was like, ‘I like doing it; let’s just keep doing it.’”
At the time, the JRE host was already juggling numerous occupations as a stand-up comedian and UFC commentator, yet he continued to invest time and money in a podcast that was not profitable. According to Joe Rogan, the reason was simple: he enjoyed doing it.
“But once you figure out a thing that you’re really passionate about, then you’ll become successful if you just keep following it,” he added. “But the thing about the podcast thing was, I managed to keep the same spirit of just doing what I enjoy doing.”
Years later, we can clearly see that the patience and commintment has paid off, regardless of the criticism it has garnered. What started as a passion project with modest production has grown into the world’s highest-earning podcast, with Joe Rogan’s reported $82 million payoff being one of the biggest success stories in modern digital media.
