Rob Kearney on Being an Openly Gay Strongman | Joe Rogan

Just say yes. Make me feel good. Definitely the first with a purple and blue. Oh, it's a full rainbow, man. Oh, yeah, it's right all the way down the back. Very nice. Now, first of all, I love your fucking handle. World's Strongest Gay. That's me. That's hilarious. Is there in that community, is there acceptance? Is there open, is it just about, like, they don't give a fuck just as long as you're a real power lifter? Oh, yeah, yeah, no, it's, yeah, when I came out, it was super cool. Nobody really gave me any shit. That's the best part about Strongman. You know, I know you had Rob Oberst in here not too long ago, and he even mentioned, yeah, he's something, but I love him. You know, he mentioned just, like, the community of Strongman is so, is awesome because, like, we all realize what we have to do to get to this level of sport, and we all have to be a little bit of, you know, sick and twisted in the head to look at a truck and get a car. Look at a truck and get excited to pull it. So, yeah, when I came out, like, nobody really gave a shit. They were just like, all right, as long as you can still lift weights, we don't care. Yeah, that's, it mirrors the comedy community in that way. For sure. Like, stand-up comedy community, nobody gives a shit. No. As long as you're funny and you're doing your job, like, that's all that really matters. And we know some that are in the closet, and we're like, come on, man. Just, no one cares. Come out. No one gives a shit. It'll probably be funnier. Right. It's a more subject matter for sure. You know, not holding onto as much. It's easier to talk. Yeah. Like, you know, when I came out, just like, you know, the, you know, weight off my shoulders was, uh, was unbelievable. How long ago was this? Uh, that was 2014. So I was 22 years old. Oh, okay. Yeah, so I was a late bloomer in the gay world. Was it like when you were in high school and like, first of all, when, when do you know? You know, I don't know that I have, like, I don't remember it. Like I never had like an aha moment per se. Um, for me, it was going through high school. Like I was involved in a bunch of stuff. You know, it was a cheerleader actually also played football. Um, was doing the weightlifting thing, like was class president. So I had my hands in a bunch of different pots college super into everything as well. Um, and really just focused on school and actually dated a girl for like a year and a half in college, in college. Yeah. Um, did you ever date a boy? No. So, but did you like, oh damn, I wish he was a boy. I mean, she's cool, but it was. Yeah, pretty much. You know, it was, uh, it was, uh, it was more like a friendship than a relationship, I guess is the way to put it. You know, like we were cool and everything and everything's going well, but like nothing else was really going on. When you came out, was she like, aha. Uh, that was, that was the reason I broke up with her. Oh, you came out because, you know, meanwhile, you know, I'm dating this girl, but I'm watching gay porn when she's not around. I'm like, ah, this isn't right. There's something else going on here. So did you like, was it gay porn, like finding gay porn? We're like, that's what I like. Pretty much. Really? Gay porn is thought of very differently than straight porn because like straight porn, here's the rub in the straight community. You look at straight porn, you're like, ah, especially someone like me who has daughters, you know, somebody probably did something awful. To those girls when they were young, like that's like nine out of 10 times. Yeah. And that's why they turned to porn. But when you see gay porn, it's like, ah, a couple of dudes would like to fuck. Pretty much. It's like, even like I'm at Dan Savage on and you know, we're talking about gay porn. It's like, it's like, they don't think of it the same way. No, not at all. Yeah. Um, yeah. So I ended up breaking up with that girl. Um, and I told her, I was like, yeah, like, I think I'm gay and I need to like figure this shit out. You know, I'm 22. I want at least enjoy my twenties, you know, trying to figure out if I, if I like dudes or not. Was she like, damn, I turned Rob gay. She was not very nice about it. Well, she won't freak out. Yeah, it didn't. It went downhill pretty quickly. Oh, really? So, oh yeah. Like we were living together at the time because we're in college. So like, um, like kind of living together and then like, I got kicked out and was like living in my car for a little while. So it was, yeah, kind of a shit show. Wow. She kicked you out. Yeah. Wow. Bitch. Did you stay in contact with her? No, not even a little bit. Wow. Yeah. Then like, you know, like six months later, she's like blowing up my phone saying I gave her chlamydia. I was like, oh, that's not on me. It doesn't take six months. Not on me. That's it. It's been longer than that too, since we were doing anything. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. I don't think you keep chlamydia in your system dormant, right? I wouldn't know. When you get it, you get it. I wouldn't know. I think so. I've dodged that bullet luckily. That seems like one that I think you just get it and then it's bad. Yeah. It doesn't seem too pleasant. I mean, I don't think it. And that was also too, because like all those like calls and everything were coming through when I was with my now husband, Joey. So like we were dating at that time and now my ex-girlfriend is going to my phone saying I gave her the clap, but. Was he laughing? At first she was like, what the fuck is going on? Because like we literally had been dating for two months. Oh. So it was like super new. So he's like, what the fuck did I get myself into? Right. Because you were a noob to the whole world. Totally. Yeah. So that's crazy. So you become, you decide, okay, I got to deal with reality. I'm gay. Yeah. You meet that one guy. Yeah. And then you're still with him. Still married. Yeah. With him. We just got married this past March. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. Like you didn't even play the field. No, no, I got real, you know, it's funny. Like I joke about this all the time because like we met in like the typical millennial gay way on Grindr. And you know, I was, I wasn't even out actually before we met. So like on Grindr, I was like that shirtless torso pick because I was still, you know, good move. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously. And he was, yeah, they're not that good, but he felt that way. So, um, I was like, good, but he thought that was so, um, so we, he like, you know, saw me pop up in the area. I was like, Oh, who's this bitch messaged me. And I thought he was catfishing me because I thought he was way too hot for me. I thought he was out of my league. Um, so I kind of just like got really lucky with the first guy that came my way. That's, um, that's kind of be weird for her, right? Yeah. Like imagine being a girl with a guy and you're like, man, what is wrong with our relationship? I mean, it's literally like the most like, like it's, there's no more other like it's me, it's you or no, it's not you. It's me. Right. Um, no, that is the, it's not you. I don't think there's anywhere to go, you know, higher than that. Like, well, unless you want to go pray the gay away, that doesn't work. No, but is it, that is like a way that some people try to fix it. Yeah. Particularly like uber religious folks. Yeah. It is hilarious, man. I think it's fricking funny. I mean, you know, like, and I, I get shit a lot of, I mean, obviously like with an Instagram handle world strongest gay, I get more shit on a daily basis on social media than I can even count. Um, and most of it's from like religious people. Really? Oh yeah. Like they're sending me like Bible, Bible verses telling me like I need to convert to Christianity and probably they're probably jerking off while they're doing probably thinking about my go. You need, you need to stop it. You need to stop being so gay and delicious. My, uh, my go to responses, you know, Hey man, I don't read fiction. So you keep doing that. Um, but I just always think it's funny because you know, they're like, you know, gay people, like obviously I'm very open about my sexuality on social media and you know, world's strongest man has been super supportive of it. They had world's strongest man in junior and pride month this year and did a whole like little expose about me, which was awesome. And uh, the comments on the world's strongest man, they're like, you're pushing the gay agenda, like all this bullshit. And I'm like, listen, man, like the only agenda we're pushing is like, I just want to be treated like everybody else and like get the same shit that you do. You know, I've never once like tried to make someone gay. You know, like meanwhile Christians are in my DM saying like, you need to convert. I'm like, Hey, you need to suck a dick. Like that's the gay agenda is a hilarious phrase. There's an agenda. I still don't even know what it is. So whoever's listening, if you could like hit me up and let me know, I'd love to learn about it. Yeah. You need to get in a tighter knit club. I guess I do the gay agenda. Yes. The rainbow mahog doesn't make me that gay. But what a hilarious thing that like, you're gonna, it's not like you're trying to get someone to be a Mormon. No, you're the gay or not gay. Exactly. Yeah. Why did, but why does someone think that's like, that's the weirdest kind of homophobia to me. Like I had a bit in one of my, uh, specials in the past. What like, there's two types of people that are afraid of gay marriage is people that are really dumb or they're secretly worried that dicks are delicious. And I share that all the time on my social media. Just thinking, I think it's fucking amazing. But that's what it is. Like worried about the gay agenda. Like they're going to come get me, you're going to get me to suck those delicious dicks. That's what it's like. It's like they're afraid. It's unbelievable. I think it's hysterical. It is hysterical. But well, I was real lucky when I was a kid, I was exposed to gay people real young when I was a seven years old, we moved to San Francisco. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then I did 70s. It was gay as fuck. And so I was around them all the time. Like my next door neighbor was this gay couple. My aunt used to go next door and they would get, they would get naked, smoke pot and play bongos together. Sick. Yeah. It was pretty crazy. So for me, that was normal life. I was just like gay. I was around gay people. I didn't even hear the term faggot until I was 11 and we moved to Florida. I remember hearing that when I was a little like, Oh wow. Like I had a, my friend, um, his name was, um, candy, Candido. He's a Cuban kid and his dad was real mad cause gay people getting married. He was reading this newspaper. Can't fucking believe this shit. He throws his newspaper down and he was a grown man. I remember being 11 goes, why does he give a shit? Like how weird literally doesn't affect him at all. But he was so upset. Yeah. But it's a, but it was important for me to see because I didn't know people like that. So to be around my friend's dad and see him freak out like that, I was like, Oh, what a weird thing to waste your time thinking about for sure. I mean, that's, and you were super lucky to have that kind of upbringing. You don't see that ugly part of, you know, the world. Cause I mean, the thing is with me, you know, I'm fortunate enough where like not many people like talk shit to me in person, you know, like I'm, I'm an average size strong man. Like I'm not really that big of a dude. What's the average size? You're like 300 pounds and I'm the smallest guy that can. How much do you weigh? I'm like two 85 right now. That's not average size, bro. Well, I mean, I just competed this weekend against Brian Shaw and the motherfuckers four 20. Yeah, that's, you know, and six foot eight I'm five 10 like, Hey man, cool. Um, you know, so like, I'm fortunate, like most people don't talk shit to me person. It's like on social media, but it did happen one time in Texas of all places. I just finished a truck pull event. Uh, this guy was like, call me a faggot from the stands, like all this stuff. And like, I just stopped and looked and I was like, dude, I suck dick and I'm stronger than you. And the whole crowd just kind of like went quiet and then he walked away. They just went quiet. Yeah. You know, I think like in that situation, like I feel like people feel like they're invincible. Like they feel like they have the power because they're in the crowd. Yeah. And like, they don't expect like somebody like who's competing to like say something back to him, right? But like, I'm not going to like take that shit. It's amazing. It's only when one guy though. Yeah. That shows you how the times are changing for sure. No. And yeah, it's in, you know, luckily like, you know, I was dubbed like the unofficial fan favorite at world's strongest man this year. So it's really cool to see the support throughout the entire community. How do you get dubbed the unofficial fan favorite? Who I was getting like the loudest applause whenever my name got announced. And yeah, so the announcers just kind of were calling me the fan favorite. That's cool. I'm happy with the way things are going with acceptance. Totally. It's changing, right? It's getting a lot better. You know, we're super fortunate. And that's kind of like when I came out, like I'm lucky because I had this, like, I really don't give a fuck mentality when I came out. I didn't care what people thought. I didn't care who thought, you know, if they didn't like me, they didn't like me. I'll just cut them out. You know, fortunately, I didn't have to do that. How did that transpire? Was it because the weight of it was so it was it gave you so much relief that you felt like who gives a shit now? Now I'm free. Was it like that? There was there was a lot that went into it. So I like in my mind, I didn't like want to come out until I, it seems dumb now, like until I knew I was really gay. And I guess, you know, dating my now husband for six weeks, that was kind of the tipping point. And at that point in our relationship, we had kind of realized like, all right, this wasn't just going to be like a fling and just having fun. Like we were actually, you know, taking the steps to kind of be committed and see what was going to happen here. Not expecting marriage, but so I came out mainly because of him, because he had he'd been out since he was 17. And at this point, we were 22. And I didn't feel like it was fair for him to be in a relationship with somebody that was still in the closet. And that was like my biggest motivator for it. And once you so you so you were already happy. So you're in this happy relationship. So if people were upset at you, you're like, I don't give a fuck, I have what I want. I'm in a better place. Yeah. And you also, I mean, it must be I'm gonna put in words in your mouth, but it must feel like when you do become out, or you do come out, it must feel like not just a relief, but like, you're you've solidified, you're fine, you're free, you're you. Yeah, I mean, it's exhausting, like waking up every day pretending to be somebody you're not. Yeah, you know, like you literally have to act different than you want to. Did you have to talk about girls to guys? Like when you were on yeah, look at her ass boy, I was always just like, I mean, the funny thing is like after I came out, like nobody was surprised. So I feel like I was a guy that was just kind of like in the back around, like awkwardly laughing when guys were talking about girls like, Oh, yeah, but I'm looking at the guys in bulges, like, you know, right behind us. That's hilarious. Do you remember a year like when you were young, when you're like, hey, something might be different? Um, you know, I think, like, I think back to like middle school. And, you know, I think it's just like this stereotypical, like I was into theater, I was into music, I played sports, but wasn't really that good at them. And actually, was it cheerleader in middle school to like, I was I did, I joined my first cheerleading team in seventh grade. And you know, the funny thing is, is, you know, there was tryouts and everything. And I got the fourth highest score out of all the girls. So I figured that was, you know, a little telltale sign. Yeah, yeah.