Joe Rogan sheds tears on JRE podcast recounting how he had to be evacuated

Joe Rogan got emotional and even shed some tears on episode 2268 of his JRE podcast, explaining how he had to be evacuated three times due to wildfires and how his neighbors weren’t as lucky.

In January 2025, wildfires spread across LA, displacing thousands of people who had their homes destroyed – something Rogan was familiar with.

While interviewing his guest, Rick Caruso, the businessman explained how it was estimated that 180,000 people had become homeless.

Rogan disputed the exact number, noting that a lot of LA residents weren’t destitute, but rather trying to find a place to live. However, he recalled his own experiences with wildfires – something that hit extremely close to home for the UFC commentator.

Joe Rogan gets emotional revealing how neighbors lost their homes

According to Joe Rogan, he had to be evacuated three different times when he lived in LA, and struggled a bit to get the words out during his explanation.

“Two of my neighbors lost their homes,” he revealed. “And watching those folks cry in front of the rubble where they lived it’s just… it’s just horrible.”

The revelation caused Joe to get weepy and rub his eyes as tears began to form – a rare emotional moment for the world’s top podcast host.

(Segment begins at 18:50)

“This was in 2018, and they rebuilt some of them. Two of the houses are still gone in my old neighborhood,” he added. “They never rebuilt, they just pulled out. It’s like, ‘What am I going to do? I lost everything.’ I mean, Mel Gibson lost books from the 1600s.”

Rogan continued to discuss the political challenges surrounding the fires and preventing them in the future, but this interview resonated with Californians who tuned in.

“This interview was beautiful and really emotional for people that understand the struggle of homelessness and the tragedies in LA,” one YouTube commenter wrote.

“You know what, Joe Rogan is a great dude with a heart of gold! F**k all the haters,” another said.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time the podcast host has shared impactful insight into fires. On a JRE episode from January 19, 2024, Rogan talked about the absurd wildfire warnings told to him by a firefighter, which ended up coming true.