Billy Corben Talked to A-Rod About Steroid Use | Joe Rogan

the bad decision making route. What's what's funny about this is that he so we caught him like on his way into federal prison originally. So in November of 2013, Alex was in the midst of the arbitration that you see at the end, you know, that we portray at the end of the movie in MLM, MLB offices in Manhattan. And we got a call from his publicist. And his publicist says, Yo, Alex is on a break from the arbitration. And he's coming down to Miami, he's got an office in Coral Gables, which is just like very wealthy, affluent suburb, adjacent to the city of Miami. And it's actually the city where the University of Miami is located where Alex Rodriguez field is at UM on campus. And so they said, Listen, Alex would like to meet with you to talk about possibly doing some kind of tell all documentary. Geez, this is November 2013. So I'm like, yes, please. Yeah, so I figured like, this is a hush hush meeting, you know, we're gonna do this on the down low at his office in Coral Gables, they say, meet us some weekday, high noon at Hillstone restaurant, which is the power lunch spot in that neighborhood. The most prominent corner in the city, floor to ceiling windows, open kitchen, everybody from the street to the dishwasher can see everything going on in that dining room. They want to meet us there at noon. So I'm like, okay, we go there slammed every seat taken mob scene around the host stand three, four deep at the bar. They escorted us down the center, me and my producer Alfred Spellman right down the center aisle, parade us practically. And, you know, ESPN, the 3430s, they really fetishize the directors. So like, they have like video interviews with us, like, you know, in bumpers, like every hour, like little little segments. And so people sometimes recognize me usually in Miami, like close to UM, because we did the U.M. you know, doc. So if there's any play any place I was going to be recognized, it was two miles from the University of Miami. And so take us right down the middle. And they're in the center booth. On this elevated platform around the back is Alex Rodriguez holding court. And we literally so we literally have to like step up on stage to join him. And like all eyes are on us in this place. And I don't know what we kind of get introduced. And I need like an icebreaker. So I'm like, so who's gonna call page six, you or us? Sure as shit. Two weeks later, it was in page six. And so we sit there and Alex didn't laugh the publicist laugh. That's like a publicist joke, you know, yes. So because it was clear that we were there to be seen having this meeting. Yeah, it was so clear. Why do you think they did this? It was it was part of Alex's when you said was there a plan? There was kind of a plan. It was part of Alex's like, a PR offensive or pushback against Major League Baseball. And so we sat there with him for almost an hour and a half and he just lied. Just lied to us the whole time. And I didn't know that about everything. I never met Tony Bosch. This is all but you look at my records, I you know, I my performance didn't improve after the time he claims to have been treating me. I'm not a baseball fan. I'm like you to me, they I call it screen saver. All right, I just but my producing partner Alfred is a degenerate baseball fan. He gets to look to fucking MLB comm package has it on his desk on his iPad all day long during the season. I'm just like, I mean, I guess he does that instead of ambient, you know, it's like less sleep eating with baseball, I guess I don't know. So he's just like, but he's a huge baseball fan. And when I left, I was like, he made a lot of good points. Alex did office like fucking lied about everything. And I can't blame him. He lied to everybody in those days. I mean, he was in a he was desperately trying to salvage his his career and his legacy. And he allegedly lied to the DEA and a queen for a day meeting. Who the fuck lies in a queen for a day meeting other than George Papadopoulos. I mean, you're supposed the whole point is you're supposed to tell the truth that they're not gonna, gonna fuck with you. But but he allegedly did that. So it is a queen for a day meeting. So Queen for a day meeting with the feds, you get a letter for it. They're like, we're investigating what you're witnessing investigation. We understand you may have participated in some illegality or committed some crimes in the course of this larger investigation. But we're not after you, we just want you to come in, feel comfortable and free to tell the truth to our investigators so that we can pursue our investigation accurately and fairly. And we will not whatever anything you say will not be held against you essentially in a court of law. So your queen for a day, they call it you get a letter queen for a day letter. And the actually called that they call a queen for a day. And so I don't think that's the thing the feds have. And so Alex was free to just speak. The only thing you can't do is lie to a federal agent. That is a crime. And that is in fact, I think what George Papadopoulos was ultimately he lied in his queen for a day meeting. The whole point of a queen for a day meeting is to test to not lie and not in you because you can't get in trouble essentially for any crimes that you admit they are about the investigation. So that was the allegations that he actually lied. So I listen, I'm a documentarian, people lie to me for a living. I'm, I'm fine with that, especially because they spell my name right in page six. And that shit was in bold. I don't have the juice to make that happen. Alex's, Alex's publicist had the juice to make to make that happen. I was flattered that they, you know, write about me but like, but you didn't think that he was lying. I suspected he wasn't telling us the whole truth. But I thought he made some interesting points and Alfred so Alfred had was a pitcher in high school, North Miami Beach Senior High go Chargers and Alfred had actually pitched against Alex Rodriguez is like one of his only war stories from his baseball years in high school, right? Is that Alex was a senior out I think Alfred was going to some sort of Ron Frazier, baseball camp at a UM and they did the summer league game. And Alfred is is I'm glad my eyes are glazing over telling the story. But like Alfred, Alfred pitches against a rod, and who was already a senior already a beast. Everybody knew this guy was gonna was gonna go in the draft and be huge. Everybody knew about that that he had been the talk of the high school baseball community in Miami forever. And so Alfred pitched against him and he held a rod to a triple course, Alec, you know, a rod smacked the shit out of this ball sailed away. But he was it was only a triple wasn't it was a rare not home run for Alex. So I thought, oh, we have like a funny personal anecdote, like we can find some common ground here, right? You're talking to someone who might be a potential interview subject, you know, and so I'm like, actually, Alex, you and Alfred have met before Alfred rolls his eyes like he's gonna embarrass me and tell this dumb shit story. So I tell out like, isn't this funny, like you guys met and Alfred held you to a triple. And he kind of looked at me like you're looking at me right now. He's just, he was totally unamused and maybe looked even a little hurt or offended. This is the greatest baseball, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, the highest paid baseball player in history. And here, I'm just telling this cute story from like 20 years earlier, whatever. And he seemed like I held me to a triple. I'm like, how could you be upset about that? You're one of the greatest of all time, like super winners. But it's like, yeah, it's it's that's why I left. I was like, this guy's a really interesting character. Like he's a complicated guy. He's an interesting guy. He's a sensitive guy. Like, I was curious about him. I was excited about the prospect of interviewing him. And man, they practically ghosted us out. Yeah, in January of 2014. That's when they lowered they reduced the suspension. I started hitting up every month, started hitting up the publicist Yo, following up on that meeting, you know, because it's funny in the page six article, it mentioned he met with the 30 for 30 filmmakers, Billy Corbin, Alfred Spellman, he's been shopping a book proposal to these publishers, the book proposal thing was total bunk, literally not true. The publishers are like, we'd love to get one, but we haven't gotten a book proposal from a rod. He really did have the meeting with us. But like, so everything was, we were just kind of pawns in his game, which is cool, whatever. I'm gonna have to respond to this documentary. Not exactly. But I for like six or seven months, I'm emailing with the publicist. And then it was clear that they weren't interested. So and that became the tactic, by the way, when you said was there a strategy, the strategy was to shut the fuck up. And just like, like you said, like with the president, big New York Times, big Escandalo Escandalo expo day. And then maybe if we just tomorrow in this 24 hour news cycle in this fucking in this world of just being us being hammered with bad news, you know, and 240 characters every nanosecond of every day, just shit just passes and they just they, they played it just so, so beautifully and brilliantly