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Joe Rogan ridiculed after falling for AI video of Tim Walz dancing in anti-Trump t-shirt
Joe Rogan has become the target of ridicule after falling for an AI video that showed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz dancing while wearing an anti-Trump T-shirt.
Joe Rogan has become the target of ridicule after falling for an AI-manipulated video that falsely showed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz dancing while wearing an anti-Trump T-shirt. The incident occurred during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, where Rogan, 58, was speaking with comedian Tim Dillon.
Here’s what happened
Rogan brought up Walz, 61, claiming that the politician had “gone wacky” following his unsuccessful campaign alongside Kamala Harris.
“Did you see where he had a f---k Trump shirt on and he’s dancing and going down an elevator?” Rogan asked Dillon. When Dillon replied that he had not seen it, Rogan instructed his producer, Jamie Vernon, to find the clip.
Upon locating the video, Vernon informed Rogan off camera that it was fake. “No, it’s not real,” Vernon said, but Joe Rogan adamantly refused to believe him.
“Yes it is,” Rogan countered, insisting, “it’s gotta be real”. The podcast host even called Vernon a “plant” for suggesting otherwise. Rogan then asked Vernon to play the video for the audience, to which Vernon reluctantly agreed.
Joe Rogan admits error
The clip was later reposted by West Virginia Representative Riley Moore, who captioned it, “If you were at the mall with your kids and this guy rolled down the escalator, you would call the cops and get him banned.” The video sparked a wave of comments mocking Moore for not recognising it as fake.
Eventually, Rogan conceded – “I fell for it, too,” he said. But the podcaster attempted to justify his mistake by saying, “and you know why I fell for it? Because I believe that he’s capable of doing something dumb. He’s so weird.”
What the AI video shows
The video in question shows Walz’s face edited onto a person’s body as he rides down an escalator singing along to Don't Cha by The Pussycat Dolls while wearing a white T-shirt with an explicit anti-Trump slogan. The original footage, posted by TikTok user @RoggenRoland on August 6, featured the creator himself performing the act.
An AFP fact-check confirmed that the video was manipulated. The news agency explained that the face of the Minnesota governor had been superimposed onto the body of the TikTok creator. The altered clip began circulating widely on platforms such as X, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram after an August 27 church shooting in Minneapolis drew national attention to the state.
Joe Rogan trolled
Joe Rogan became the subject of mockery after falling for the fake video. A clip from his podcast where he admitted his mistake has collected 4.5 million views on X.
“Rogan falls for everything. Guy’s a clown,” wrote one X user. “It really fascinates me how the most popular podcaster in the country is, to put it bluntly, a total moron,” another wrote.
“Rogan, like much of his audience, has become part of the Gen X/boomer crowd that falls for subpar AI slop. Joe’s only going to radicalize his fanbase further with his ignorance,” a third predicted.
