NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Podcast giant Joe Rogan said Wednesday he would probably be arrested if he tried to host his program from the United Kingdom.
For crises ranging from grooming gangs to arresting people for online speech, the UK is often touted by American critics as a cautionary tale of liberal government that restricts speech and lets violent criminals run rampant. Guest and fellow podcaster Chris Williamson, who recently left the UK for the United States, spoke on “The Joe Rogan Experience” about a study claiming it is the second-most miserable country in the world.
“It can’t just be the weather,” Rogan said.
“Maybe it’s the Online Safety Bill,” Williamson quipped, referring to the UK’s Online Safety Act that many critics argue is a nightmare for free speech.
ROGAN CALLS OUT MEDIA FOR FUSSING OVER JIMMY KIMMEL AS UK GOVT ARRESTS PEOPLE FOR ONLINE SPEECH
Joe Rogan has been a frequent critic of the United Kingdom’s speech laws, and lamented he would probably be arrested if he had tried to operate his podcast from there. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“Could be,” Rogan agreed. “That would get me depressed. I’d be so depressed if I lived in England right now. I’d be like, ‘I’m f—–, like legitimately f—–.’”
“Like imagine if I was running this podcast in the exact same way out of England,” Rogan proposed. “I’d get arrested. I saw them — they arrested a teacher because he refused to refer to one of his students as a ‘they’ and this was like his second infraction. And so they arrested him for failure to recognize a singular plural.”
“I don’t like s—-ing on the UK because it feels like I’m pulling the ladder up after I’ve just got out of it,” Williamson lamented. “But it’s just, I don’t know how many more ways you can faceplant over and over again.”
BILL MAHER URGES AMERICANS TO UNCONDITIONALLY SUPPORT FREE SPEECH, AVOID BECOMING LIKE BRITAIN
The United Kingdom has been rocked by protests over the last 10 years as citizens object to mass migration and censorship. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Williamson added that the UK seems to be running on borrowed time and nostalgia, and it could look back years from now with shame on some of its current policies.
He recalled the appalling treatment of mathematician Alan Turing for being gay, even though he played a crucial role for the Allies in World War II by helping crack German codes, and the posthumous apology he got from the British government.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was condemned by Americans after he threatened to punish people in other countries and have them extradited to the United Kingdom for their speech about politics in the UK. (Sky News)