"I got squashed like a bug" - Robert Epstein breaks down on Joe Rogan's podcast, blaming Google research for derailing his career
Joe Rogan welcomed renowned American psychologist Robert Epstein on episode #2201 of The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE). During the pair's conversation, Epstein touched on the negative impact that Google had on his career as a researcher. It all stems from being caught in the crossfires of American politics.
He recounted how former American president Donald Trump once tweeted in support of his research on Google, despite making minor mistakes regarding the finer details.
"In 2019, after I testified before Congress about some of my research on Google, president Trump tweeted to his whatever millions of gazillions of followers, basically some praise for my research. He [Donald Trump] got the details wrong, but then Hillary Clinton, whom I had always admired, chose to tweet back to her 80 million Twitter followers and she tweeted that my work had been debunked and was based on data from 21 undecided voters."
Unfortunately for Epstein, Trump's support of his research drew the attention of his then chief political rival, Hillary Clinton. This led to her issuing a tweet of her own, in which she claimed that Epstein's research was baseless.
"I still have no idea where any of that came from. Probably Google, because Google was her biggest supporter in 2016 and this was 2019. And then that got picked up by this machine. I'm told it's called the Clinton Machine, and the New York Times picked that up without fact-checking and then a hundred other places did and I got squashed like a bug. Squashed. I had a flawless reputation as a researcher. My research reputation was gone. I was now a fraud."
Check out Robert Epstein detail the damage done to his reputation (2:27):
While Clinton's tweet damaged Epstein's reputation, his willingness to point out that Google search results reportedly suggest more positive terms for Clinton than Trump led to a spike in his popularity in conservative circles.
Robert Epstein isn't the only psychologist Joe Rogan has welcomed on his podcast
Joe Rogan has welcomed various academics to his podcast, ranging from physicists to, of course, psychologists. Among them is Jordan Peterson, whose controversial opinions have turned him into a polarizing figure. However, he has featured on several episodes of the JRE podcast.
Check out Jordan Peterson on episode #2180 of the JRE:
He is also notable for convincing Rogan to try out a carnivore diet, which the UFC commentator ultimately abandoned.