Joe Rogan - Netflix Didn't Want Norm Macdonald Addressing Controversy

Right, there should be massive social pressure against those kinds of noxious political commitments. But if someone misspeaks or it's an off-color joke and it's like they weren't trying to offend anyone and they're just, you know, they wish they could take it back and like, and that links up with, I mean, did you see, you must have seen the Norm McDonald. Yes. I mean, that was brutal. Yeah. Right? And he was, you know, he knew he couldn't use the word retard, right? Because it's like that's going to get him in trouble. And so, I mean, it's hilarious in fact. Explain what happened. Okay, so he was on Howard Stern show, wasn't he? I think. I think so. He was, I could have this wrong, but the gist of this is right. I believe he's on Howard Stern show and he was about to use the word retard. So, okay, we'll walk this back now. Now it's coming back to me. He was talking about his friend, the ordeal that Louis C.K. has gone through in this just massive exile experience, right? This massive social shunning. And he was describing it in a way where he then got accused that he cared more about what Louis C.K. was going through than the women who felt victimized by Louis C.K. And that was not his intention at all, apparently. And so when he went to clarify this, he was about to say, you'd have to be retarded to think that I cared more about Louis C.K.'s ordeal than the ordeal of these women who had, you know, felt like their careers got derailed, right? But as the word retard was coming out of his mouth, he tried to course correct. And because he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about, he says you'd have to have Down Syndrome, right? Which is worse, right? It's more specific. And it's like, and then you got all these parents with Down Syndrome who have kidney Down Syndrome who are just, oh my God. And so now he's just, then he showed up on The View, right, with this, on this apology tour. And I mean, that's just amazing video to see him on The View surrounded by these four women who know he's not a bad guy, right? Like they're trying to, they're throwing him lifeline after lifeline and he's so beaten down, right? And he's so walking on eggshells and you got Whoopi Goldberg, you know, trying to just pull him back, you know, from the lions. And it should be, I mean, it should be so straightforward. Like it does, is it part of Norm's goal to cause pain for parents who have kids with mental disabilities, right? No. I mean, like, you can look into this guy's eyes for 10 seconds and know that this is not the bigot you're worried about, right? Of course. You know? And yet people just want him destroyed. I don't know if they still do, but it's like the moment, like it was, I think it was a real concern that his show would get canceled. I mean, like this was a- Well, it hasn't been picked up for a second season. And one of the things- Maybe that's part of the problem. It is part of the problem. He was devastated. I mean, I'm very good friends with Adam Egan. He's a guy that runs the comedy store. He's the talent director at the comedy store. And he's been on Norm's show. He was on Norm's, he was like Norm's sidekick on a show. He's a very good friend with Norm. And Norm really suffered from this in a way that he never suffered from anything in his career in terms of like his own personal feeling. He was devastated by it, by the blowback and the reaction. And he wanted to come on my podcast and talk about it, but Netflix is like, get the fuck out of here. Netflix had no press. Don't do anything. No press. Okay. So the fact that you can't talk your way out of it, that's the fucking disease. Well, the problem is not that you can't talk your way out of it. The problem is that they wouldn't even let him attempt to talk your way out of it because I think they realize that Norm's a maniac. And Norm is a maniac in the best sense of the word. He's one of my favorite comics. He's hilarious. He's fucking hilarious. But he's also completely crazy in the best way possible. Norm and I randomly, in some strange way, randomly were seated next to each other on two separate flights. Oh yeah. Just randomly. It's crazy. Like Norm again, like this is crazy. And we had a great time just talking the entire flight. And we were talking about cigarette smoking. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I used to smoke. I'm so glad I quit. Fucking terrible for you. You know, yeah, I mean, it's just, but I just always wanted a cigarette and then I'd be gambling and I want a cigarette. But I quit. Fuck cigarettes. Like, how long did you quit? And you're like, oh, I haven't had a cigarette in years. I'm like, oh, that's great. We land at LAX. He goes right into a store and buys cigarettes. I go, what are you doing? He goes, all that talking cigarettes. I just want one now. He was lighting it on the way out the door. He couldn't get out the door. He lit it before he, the, you know, the automatic door. He was before it was opening, he was lighting that cigarette. I was like, you're crazy. But that's many, many comedians are incredibly impulsive. And this is Norm. I mean, he's got such a, he's so off kilter. He's got a sort of Gary Shanley and like, you don't know what's going to come out of his mouth extemporaneously. Yes. But okay, we have to be, let's put this back into the diversity Olympics. We need some respect for neurodiversity. Yes. Right? There are people who are somewhere on the spectrum toward autism, right? There are people who are, there's, there are spectrums we don't even know about. We haven't named, right? For sure. Everyone is in some weird spot and people misspeak, right? There has to be a way back to say, that's not what I meant, right? Like this is, like offending people of this type was not my intention. At some level that has to be good enough, unless, you know, we open your closet and we see that you've got swastikas everywhere, you know? And so I think we have to, we have to hold the line here, you know? Yeah. And very few people are in a position to be able to do it. I mean, you know, like Netflix, Netflix doesn't feel it can do it. Well, Netflix is just so terrified of a continual blowback. And they just thought like, if we're going to save this show, the way to save it is to get him to stop talking. Right. Because he's just going to just take his other foot and take other people's feet and stuff them in his mouth as well. I think one thing that might help to illuminate our understanding of how people behave is what you really enjoy talking about. And you really definitely changed my way of looking at things. That they're really essentially, the concept of free will is a very flawed thing. And that you have to really take into consideration who a person is right now and what has caused them to be this person right now. And that a lot of us are operating on this really bizarre momentum of our pasts and our behavior and our genetics and life experiences and all these different variables that really need to be taken into account. This idea that you are autonomous and you are the director of your own life is true to a certain extent. But it's also very complicated, much more complicated than we would like to admit. And when you're talking about something that happened when you were 17, like Brett Kavanaugh or something like that, like, Jesus Christ, you know, you're going to hold a 55-year-old man accountable to something that he did when he was 17 that wasn't a crime. And you're not exactly sure what happened. This is all very strange. This is very strange stuff.