She was afraid of stirring the progressive pot.
Joe Rogan claimed the Harris-Walz campaign drew a red line on talk about “marijuana legalization” for the interview that never happened — while aides said the sit-down was nixed over fears of progressive backlash.
“I think they had requirements on things that she didn’t want to talk about. She didn’t want to talk about marijuana legalization, which I thought was hilarious,” the popular podcaster revealed on his Tuesday episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
The Harris-Walz campaign had reached out to Rogan’s management about doing an interview with him after it broke that former President Donald Trump would go on the highly rated podcast, according to Rogan, 57.
But ultimately, the scheduling never worked out, according to Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Ian Sams.
During the negotiations with Rogan, some staffers on Harris’ team grew wary that an appearance on Rogan’s heavily watched podcast could stoke progressive backlash.
“There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it, and how there would be a backlash,” Jennifer Palmieri, an adviser to second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, told the Financial Times.
Rogan’s guest on the Tuesday episode, comedian Adrienne Iapalucci, pondered why the campaign would deem discussion about legalizing pot out of bounds.
“Because of her prosecuting record,” Rogan mused about Vice President Kamala Harris, who formerly served as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney. “She put a lot of people in jail for weed.”
Last month, Harris’ team rolled out a suite of policies aimed at courting black male voters, including the legalization of marijuana.
She had taken flak from her left flank, including during the 2020 Democratic primary, for her prosecutorial record on marijuana.