'Deeply repulsive': ABC chairman unleashes on podcaster Joe Rogan

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan has hit back at the verbal broadside against him by ABC Chairman Kim Williams who described the American media figure as "deeply repulsive".

Kim Williams was speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday when he was asked about the "Rogan effect" and the podcaster's stunning appeal to young men.

The ABC chairman answered with a tirade against Rogan, accusing him of exploiting "people's vulnerabilities".

"I am not a consumer or enthusiast about Mr Rogan and his work," he said.

"(But) I think that people like Mr Rogan prey on people's vulnerabilities. They prey on fear.

"They prey on anxiety. They prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society, and they entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative."

Williams continued with his diatribe about the man behind The Joe Rogan Experience.

"I personally find it deeply repulsive … to think that someone has such remarkable power," he said.

"I'm also absolutely in dismay that this can be a source of public entertainment, when it's really treating the public as plunder for entrepreneurs that are really quite malevolent."

Overnight Rogan responded in a message on X, posting the words "LOL WUT", accompanied by a clip of Williams' harangue.

Rogan's backing of Donald Trump on the eve of this month's US election sparked debate about the influence of new age media.

The podcaster is largely followed by young men, a demographic that overwhelmingly voted for Trump.

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