Joe Rogan weighs in on Kimmel's suspension

Joe Rogan has rushed to the defense of Jimmy Kimmel over the 'joke' that got him pulled from the air, while calling the Trump administration 'crazy' for going after the late-night host. On his podcast Tuesday, Rogan slammed Kimmel's suspension over his comments about Charlie Kirk as an affront to free speech, warning that those who hailed the decision could face similar consequences.

Roagn, who had been silent on the subject since Kimmel's suspension, blamed his absence on an elk-hunting trip in the mountains. The episode appeared to be recorded before Kimmel's show was reinstated. 'First of all, I definitely don't think that the government should be involved - ever - in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue, that's [expletive] crazy,' Rogan told guest Andrew Santino.

'Now, the problem is the companies, if they're being pressured by the government - so if that's real - and if people on the right are like, "Yeah, go get them," oh my God, you're crazy for supporting this. Because this will be used on you.' Rogan also defended the comments Kimmel made that him suspended. 'Unfortunately, I think what he was trying to do was just set up a joke. He was trying to knock on the MAGA people but also set up a joke, which was good. It was very funny,' Rogan said.

Last week, Kimmel had said during his monologue that the 'MAGA gang' was 'desperately' trying to distance itself from Kirk 's suspected assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. The host also poked fun at Trump's reaction to the shooting. 'This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend,' he said. 'This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.'

Rogan correctly predicted Kimmel's suspension would be brief, and that the host would be praised when he made his return. 'Look, I certainly think that for Jimmy Kimmel, all this does is help him. It makes his show bigger. There's much more support,' the podcaster said. 'I'm sure he's there's a lot of hate as well, which is not fun.

'But at the end of the day, if the show comes back, which this is my suspicion, my suspicion is they suspend it for a short amount of time and then they bring it back. 'He comes back to a standing ovation. Donald Trump tweets mean [expletive] about him and then the world moves on.' Rogan also called it '[expletive] insane' that Trump took the time out of his day to post on social media attacking Kimmel and other late-night hosts.

'How do you have time while you're running the world to be tweeting that you don't like talk show hosts?' Rogan said. 'That is so crazy.' Rogan - a well-known free speech advocate - endorsed Trump late last year but has broken with the president in recent months. He has slammed the administration's tariffs on Canada as 'ridiculous' and called its deportation policies 'horrific.'

The clashes started in March, when Rogan used his podcast to rant about Trump imposing tariffs on Canada and his desire to make Canada the 51st state. 'I can't believe there is anti-American, anti-Canadian sentiment going on. It's the dumbest [expletive] feud,' Rogan said during the March 14 episode. 'I just want America and Canada to get along, I think it's ridiculous. And I don't think they should be our 51st state.'

A week later, Rogan took things a step further, slamming Trump's approach to the mass deportation of immigrants, after reports emerged that innocent people had been mistakenly rounded up and thrown into maximum security prisons in El Salvador alongside gang members and criminals. 'You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to, like, El Salvador prisons,' Rogan said.

'This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That's horrific. And that's, again, that's bad for the cause.' The recent clashes are a sharp contrast to the two men's cozy alliance in the days leading up to the election, when Rogan welcomed both Trump and his former 'First Buddy' Elon Musk onto his podcast.