Joe Rogan Accuses Chris Pratt’s Attackers Of Bigotry
Joe Rogan has no love for Chris Pratt's attackers.
This article is more than 2 years old
It’s kind of surprising Chris Pratt still has any kind of social media presence. After first being cast as Super Mario, and then posting a happy birthday message to his current wife Katherine Schwarzenegger that was taken by many to be a jab at his ex-wife Anna Faris, the Guardians of the Galaxy star got no end of hell from Twitter. Now podcaster Joe Rogan is standing up to defend Pratt, calling his attackers bullies and religious bigots.
On this Tuesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience (via Yahoo Entertainment), the titular host said that — as opposed to any valid reasons — Chris Pratt’s critics are attacking him “because he’s Christian.” Rogan went on to call Pratt, “kind of outside the lines in terms of his ideology. He’s a Christian. And pretty open about it. And because of that, they attack him.” He called Pratt’s attackers “all insane people that hate their jobs or sitting in front of the cubicle. When their boss isn’t looking, they’re tweeting bad things about Chris Pratt.”
Joe Rogan has apparently had some face-to-face time with Chris Pratt and he’s been left with nothing but glowing things to say about Marvel’s cinematic Star-Lord. He called Pratt, “the nicest f—ing guy” he’d ever met. Rogan discussed going on an elk-hunting trip with Pratt and described how approachable and friendly he was to everyone. “[He] sits at these cafeteria-style tables with everybody, you know, people from all walks of life. He’s, like, super normal.”
First gaining fame as the lovable but dim-witted Andy on the sitcom Parks & Recreation and catapulting into super-stardom after being cast as Star-Lord in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris Pratt enjoyed a few years of the public regarding him as exactly the kind of fun-loving everyman that Rogan describes. Things started to change for the actor in 2018 when, in response to a tweet about Pratt talking about his spirituality on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Elliot Page tweeted, “Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?” Pratt denied the claim that his place of worship, Hillsong Church, was homophobic, but the public hasn’t quite looked at him the same way ever since the controversy.
The more recent attacks on Chris Pratt started after his voice casting as Super Mario was announced, which some saw as discriminatory because Pratt — unlike the character — isn’t Italian. While there were no more accusations of discrimination, social media still bemoaned his voice casting as the lasagna-inhaling cat Garfield. Things got a lot more heated after a November Instagram post in which Pratt wished his wife a happy birthday. In the caption, Pratt heaps praise on his wife, including pointing out that together they have “a gorgeous healthy daughter.” Twitter exploded, with many seeing the mention of a “healthy” daughter as a dig against Anna Faris, whose son with Pratt was born premature and faced serious health issues as a result.
Whether Joe Rogan has a point on the attacks on Chris Pratt or not, what Rogan calls the “bully pile on” certainly doesn’t seem to be putting a dent in Pratt’s career. He’ll be starring in at least two more films — next year’s Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — as Star-Lord, plus in the Disney+ Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. He starred earlier this year in The Tomorrow War, has next year’s Jurassic World: Dominion on the way, and was reportedly paid a stunning $1.4 million per episode for the upcoming Amazon Prime series The Terminal List. If that’s what it means to be canceled, then there are a lot of people who would probably like to be canceled.
