Podcasters Platforming Antisemitism

Far-right online influencers are giving antisemites large platforms and millions of views, further mainstreaming hatred against Jews and other communities

Over the past few weeks, millions of people were exposed to a series of podcasts platforming some of the internet’s most antisemitic, transphobic, and racist influencers on YouTube and Spotify. 

Conspiracies and overt hatred were being spoon-fed to audiences without any challenge from podcasters ranging from those pandering to the far right like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Patrick Bet-David to California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. These podcasts are allowing those flirting with Nazi and other extremist ideologies to establish their views as acceptable public discourse, thereby bringing respectability to beliefs that have long been considered beyond the pale.

The platforming of these voices is in line with far-right extremists already present deep within the ranks of Trump’s administration. Trump’s placement of racists, insurrectionists, and conspiracists in positions of power have normalized extremism in ways not seen in decades. Elon Musk, who heads up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and acts as a “special government employee,” performed two Roman Salutes at Trump’s inauguration, and recently reposted a tweet absolving Hitler of the Holocaust’s atrocities, saying “Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did.” The masterminds at the Heritage Foundation which constructed the authoritarian Project 2025 agenda now being enacted by Trump, are also being accused of “insidious antisemitism” by putting forth a plan to target left-wing critics of Israel while ignoring the ongoing surge of right-wing antisemitism and white nationalism.

Worryingly, the platforming of extremists by popular podcasters is encouraging antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in the mainstream, particularly as it relates to what extremists call the “Jewish Question” (“JQ”), an antisemitic term implying that the existence of Jews is a “question” that needs to be solved. The idea of a “Jewish Question” reaches back to the 1800s in Germany, taking a genocidal turn in Nazi Germany, where it referred to the belief that Jews posed an existential threat to Germans. Regardless of Musk’s tweet, the Nazis implemented harsh legislation, leading to the persecution and eventual extermination of millions of Jews during the Holocaust, known as the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” While antisemites on these mainstream podcasts aren’t saying “Jews should be exterminated,” they’re introducing the public to discussions centred on conspiracies that they associate with Jews, such as sinister criminal networks, control over the United States government and the media.

Mainstream Podcasters Embrace Antisemites Hinting At The “JQ”

The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) is Spotify’s popular podcast with more than 19 million subscribers on YouTube. Rogan has a track record of antisemitic comments, such as when he said “The idea that Jewish people aren’t into money is ridiculous,” and conspiracy-mongering, through arranging for guests like Alex Jones, and being at the forefront of spreading COVID misinformation. 

While Rogan continues to have mainstream figures on his show, he’s also platforming fringe far-right figures who are explicitly antisemitic, like Ian Carroll. Carroll, an antisemitic YouTuber dabbling in conspiracies, has previously claimed that Israel was involved in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. On JRE, he claimed that Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious sex trafficker, was part of a “Jewish organization of Jewish people working on behalf of Israel and other groups,” which created “a dark stain on Israel and on the Jewish people” as a whole. Carroll’s “evidence” to support this was an apparent quote from Dan Bongino, the recently-appointed Deputy Director of the FBI, saying that Epstein was working for an intelligence agency in the Middle East. 

Carroll also made claims that “Israel has so much control over our government right now,” adding a caveat that “I’m not saying all Jews are in on something, clearly.” Nevertheless, Carroll is alluding to the ZOG (“Zionist Occupied Government”) conspiracy, which purports that Jews secretly control the governments of countries in the West. Rogan was happy to egg on Carroll as he went on his tirade, even referring to a “deep state of the intelligence agencies in Israel.”

This interview, currently sitting at more than 3 million views, galvanized online antisemites, many of whom were already fans of Carroll. They lauded the podcast appearance as a chance to mainstream the “JQ.” One tweet suggesting that Jews leave the United States had almost as many views as the interview itself.

Theo Von, a podcaster with a show titled This Past Weekend, with around 3.75 million subscribers on YouTube, landed in hot water for interviewing Candace Owens in early March. Theo Von doesn’t quite have Rogan’s stature given he used to work out with former KKK grand wizard David Duke, but regardless, he has hosted Trump on his podcast, and described this year’s presidential inauguration, which he attended, as “inspiring.” 

Owens was booted from the far-right outlet The Daily Wire over her antisemitism and engages in a myriad of crackpot conspiracy theories, including unfounded claims that Jews were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Joseph Stalin was Jewish, and Sigmund Freud was a “Kabbalistic pedophile.” Her interview with Theo Von, at the time of publishing, amassed around 2.4 million views, more than any of Von’s past eleven interviews, aside from one with well known comedian Katt Williams (10 million views). 

During the podcast, Owens references the ongoing war in Gaza, for which Israel is currently accused of “genocidal acts.” She goes one step beyond criticising the actions of Israel and claims the “mainstream media,” a term often used by antisemites as a dog-whistle to imply “Jews,” takes advantage of people’s “preconditioned beliefs about the Holocaust,” continuing a trend of Holocaust denial that led to her being banned in 2024 from Australia and New Zealand. She also accused the media of enacting “an evil way to…socially engineer what [they] want.” Theo Von made no attempt to push back on these problematic comments, only adding in the odd “yeah” in between Owens’ arguments.

Theo Von is somewhat of a cult figure in neo-Nazi circles online, not reaching the “/our guy/” status that Elon Musk seems to have, but he has made enough comments pandering to white supremacy to be considered friendly to the movement. Infamous neo-Nazis, such as Australian Joel Davis, in reference to Von’s comments about “left-leaning media” being “mostly Jewish,” said that he’s “been cooking,” referencing internet slang meaning to skillfully do something.

Similarly, Canadian Rob Primerano (“Rob Primo”), an ally of the white supremacist Diagolon movement who regularly shares neo-Nazi content on Instagram, shared a post calling Theo Von “dangerously based” after Von implied to Riley Mau, a frequent guest on the show, that the United States is not his “homeland.”  In response to his interview with Owens, one Twitter user named “@DelGroyp,” “Groyp” being shorthand for Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes’ Groyper movement, shared a clip of Owens saying the United States and Israel have a close relationship because of “blackmail.” The tweet amassed over three million views, more than the podcast’s views on YouTube.

Andrew Tate and the JQ

The Jewish Question was recently addressed on the PBD Podcast, which has over 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube, hosted by Patrick Bet-David, in an interview featuring Andrew Tate, a rabid misogynist who recently returned to the United States despite being investigated by Romanian authorities for human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, and money laundering. Tate has a long history of antisemitism, most recently calling for a revival of the Nazi salute along with flirting with Holocaust denial, saying “Considering [World War II] was such a large cultural event its (sic) still used to this day to psyop the populace” (“psyop” is short for psychological operation, military language describing “someone or something used by the government to influence the population’s opinions and values”). 

The interview, which garnered around 2.7 million views, features Tate explicitly talking about “this whole Jewish Question thing.” Tate views the arguments of antisemites as somewhat legitimate, because he says Israel “seem[s] to have some control over the American government,” echoing previously-mentioned ZOG conspiracy rhetoric used by Ian Carroll on JRE. 

When discussing the Epstein Files, a series of documents related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation, Tate jokingly said he could say “the Jews” are preventing the full truth behind the case from coming out to “get some favor with the internet.” He expanded on this by saying “I would analyze who controls enough money that it would be a detriment to the political class and the society as a whole if these lists leaked.” While not a direct accusation against Jews, Tate is combining his “joking” about Jews with antisemitic talking points about Jews controlling money and having worldwide influence over the “political class.”

Tate also made an appearance on the Full Send Podcast on March 5, which has over 2.1 million subscribers on YouTube. It is hosted by Kyle Forgeard and the “NELK boys,” who started as online pranksters from Canada, but became increasingly involved in American politics, collaborating with JD Vance on TikTok and even appearing on stage with Donald Trump at a rally. The channel interviews far-right influencers and government figures, such as Adin Ross, Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Donald Trump, Jordan Peterson, and Robert F. Kennedy. Their primary YouTube channel, “NELK,” with over 8.3 million subscribers, was temporarily demonetized by YouTube in 2020 for violating the platform’s Creator Responsibility Policy after they threw a series of massive college parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notably, an episode of the Full Send Podcast featuring Trump in 2022 was removed for violating YouTube’s misinformation policy regarding “content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches changed the outcome of the U.S. 2020 presidential election.” In his March 5 interview, Tate explicitly said that people in the United States will “get in a lot of trouble” for “speak[ing] out against the Jews,” to which Forgeard merely responded with “oh, the Jews” without challenging Tate on what he meant. The interview has 3.1 million views, far eclipsing the eleven other most recent episodes, for which the next highest viewership is around 1.3 million.

Extremists were overjoyed with Tate and the others peddling their antisemitism unchecked, with a clip on Tate’s comments relating to the “Jewish Question” amassing around 1.5 million views on Twitter.

Nick Fuentes celebrated these interviews by saying “We live in a world where the red pill has gone mainstream. People are waking up,” to what he deemed the two biggest problems facing the world today: “white genocide” and “the influence of Jews.” Another popular antisemitic influencer, Stew Peters, known for violent political rhetoric, shared a post on Telegram celebrating “Joe Rogan, Ian Carroll, Candace Owens, Theo Von, [and] Andrew Tate,” saying “The JQ Goes Mainstream!”

Gavin Newsom And The New Zeitgeist 

As antisemites attempt to take the JQ mainstream, Democrat and California Governor Gavin Newsom launched his podcast This Is Gavin Newsom on March 6 featuring far-right figures associated with Trump. At the time of publishing, Newsom’s podcast is the tenth most popular podcast on Spotify in the United States. Newsom’s first episode features Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, a fervent Project 2025 supporter who disapproves of the Civil Rights Act (he argues that the Civil Rights Act, which prevents discrimination on the basis of race, created a “permanent DEI-type bureaucracy”). 

Newsom, who had a strong record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, is now mired in controversy around suppressing pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. This controversy makes it slightly less surprising that he “completely aligned” with Kirk on trans issues like gender-affirming care and sports. Newsom even said “we have to be more sensitized” to Kirk’s ridiculous claim that trans people are experiencing “butchery” akin to “chemical castration.” In an opinion piece for Fox News following his podcast appearance, Charlie Kirk all-but-confirmed Newsom’s embrace of the far-right’s cultural revolution, saying Newsom “can see the polls. He’s moving to where the puck will be in four years,” a hockey analogy describing Newsom as someone who can anticipate political shifts and move with them.

Newsom’s rightward shift didn’t stop with Kirk. He also hosted far-right radio jock and current Newsmax commentator Michael Savage, who blamed the Democrats’ election loss on “vilifying the white male,” “illegals getting free care,” and embracing trans rights (Savage has a long history of bigotry and antisemitism). 

On March 12, Newsom dropped an episode with Steve Bannon, who has a history of politically violent rhetoric, was sentenced to four months in federal prison for defying a congressional subpoena, and seemed to flash a Roman Salute at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gesture infamously associated with Hitler’s genocidal regime. As more episodes are released, Newsom hinted that several of his podcast guests would be from “the lineup at CPAC,” further demonstrating his willingness to platform the ideas of the far right. Not so long ago, it would have been inconceivable that a sitting governor would provide free publicity to extremists, never mind doing it just as the United States is experiencing democratic backsliding that is affecting freedom of the press, safety of the judiciary, and the safety of religious institutions. 

One major throughline across all of these bigots and antisemites appearing on these more mainstream podcasts with millions of listeners is their soft-pedaling of their most extreme views to make their ideas palatable to a wider audience. Charlie Kirk didn’t advocate for rescinding the Civil Rights Act on Gavin Newsom’s podcast, Ian Carroll didn’t go on a rant about Jews taking over the world on JRE, Candace Owens didn’t say the Jews killed JFK on Theo Von’s podcast, and Andrew Tate didn’t bring up Holocaust revisionism on PDB, but these podcasters have enabled extremists to spot an opening to make the JQ a matter of public debate, even if it’s not widely accepted – yet.