Gavin Newsom Challenges ‘Chicken’ Joe Rogan to Talk to Him Face-to-Face: ‘Why Won’t You Have Me on The Show?

California Governor Gavin Newsom is done playing nice.

In a pointed moment during an interview with Higher Learning hosts Rachel Lindsay and Van Lathan, Newsom called out podcast giant Joe Rogan for what he says is years of potshots without the guts to actually talk to him face-to-face. His message to Rogan was blunt: put up or shut up.

“Joe, why won’t you have me on the show?” Newsom asked. “He won’t have me on the show. It’s one way. And he has guests coming and attacking and bashing, but he will not have me on the show. Period. Full stop.”

The governor didn’t hold back, responding to Rogan’s recurring jabs — most recently calling Newsom a “bulls–t artist” and mocking him for allegedly having presidential ambitions despite what Rogan sees as a poor record in California. On his show, Rogan said, “You can’t ruin a city and then go on to ruin a state and say, ‘Guys, that was just practice. Once I get in as president, I’m gonna fix it all.’”

Newsom wasn’t having it. “He’s been attacking me for years and years and years,” he said. Then came the challenge: “He should have me on the show. Let’s have it. Let’s do it, Joe.”

It didn’t stop there. When Lindsay floated the idea of flipping the script and having Rogan appear on Newsom’s show instead, the governor bit. “Come on my show, Joe.”

Newsom also took the fight to social media. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “Joe Rogan is too [chicken emoji] to have me on his show and expose his listeners to the truth, so I’ll put it here,” before rattling off a list of accomplishments in California. He signed off with: “I could continue… invite me on any time, @joerogan :).”

Later in the Higher Learning interview, Newsom made it clear he’s not trying to play nice anymore. “We all have our role to play. I just told you, I’m not afraid to go… I’m punching Joe Rogan, okay? That son of a b–ch is not used to that. And he’s gonna dismiss it and he’s gonna laugh it off, tough guy and all that, but is he going to have me on? I don’t know.”

Rogan has used his massive platform to repeatedly tear into Newsom and California, criticizing everything from the state’s homelessness crisis and vaccine mandates to what he says is a mass exodus of residents. He’s claimed there’s money missing, said Hollywood is “dead,” and framed California as a cautionary tale of failed progressive policy.

Newsom isn’t denying the state’s challenges — but he’s not letting the criticism slide without context either.

“We’re imperfect. We got homelessness. We got problems. Give me a break. So does every goddamn state,” he said. “You never talk about those states. It pisses me off, cause I love this place. I love what it represents.”

And then, the line that makes it clear this isn’t just political theater: “You hit us, you hit my state, I’m coming back.”

The ball is now firmly in Joe Rogan’s court. Will he take the challenge? Or keep lobbing grenades from the safety of his studio?

Either way, Newsom just turned up the heat.