When Joe Rogan discussed freedom of speech with writer-journalist Megan Murphy - "Canada does not have a first amendment"

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Joe Rogan (left), Meghan Murphy (right) [Images courtesy of @meghanemilymurphy on Instagram]

When Joe Rogan hosted Megan Murphy on the JRE podcast, he discussed a wide range of subjects with the journalist. Canadian freedom of speech laws and gender issues took up most of the conversation.

Rogan often discusses many difficult subjects on his podcast, and that was no different when Murphy came on as a guest in August 2021. Murphy is a Canadian writer and journalist who mainly discusses feminism. She also runs a website and podcast called Feminist Current.

The Canadian journalist has written for CBC News, The Globe and Mail, the National Post, and many other major outlets. While on Joe Rogan's podcast, Murphy discussed freedom of speech with the UFC commentator.

Rogan raised the point that Canadians don't have a first amendment, meaning they don't have freedom of speech but instead have a human rights council:

"We should explain, that Canada does not have a first amendment. So you don't have freedom of speech over there, you have a human rights council. Right so, and then, if laws violate, if rather, some of your speech violates the laws that they put in place, you can literally be arrested."

Watch the JRE podcast clip below:

Murphy then replied by stating that, when violating one of these laws, you will go through a human rights tribunal. The Canadian journalist has experience with these laws after she was banned from Twitter for referring to a trans woman as "him" on the platform. This prompted Murphy to file a lawsuit against Twitter, which was later dismissed.

When speaking about the law specifically about misgendering somebody, Murphy said:

"I mean the law didn't actually. It was very vague, like it didn't specifically say for example, if you misgender somebody, that's a hate crime or hate speech or something like that. All it did was to say, that gender identity and gender expression essentially needed to be protected under the law, just like whatever race ermm, or other sort of marginalized identities or whatever."

Watch the full episode below:

Officially, freedom of expression in Canada is seen as a "fundamental freedom" and is protected by Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

However, the Charter does allow for the Canadian government to enforce limits on this freedom. Hate speech and defamation are both used in this instance.

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Joe Rogan isn't comfortable with fans tattooing his face on their body

Joe Rogan is quickly becoming one of the most famous people in the world. With his podcast reaching millions and his affiliation with the UFC, Rogan is attracting a very loyal fanbase.

However, after a fan got a tattoo of Rogan's face on his body, the podcaster responded on Instagram, writing in the caption of his post:

"I've lost count of how many tattoos of me are out there, but it never stops veing weird."

Rogan stated that despite there being a number of fan tattoos, it will never stop being "weird" for him. The tattoo sees Rogan's face underneath an alien and a spaceship, which is fitting considering the usual topics of the JRE podcast.

Despite the podcaster seemingly uncomfortable with the idea of his face being tattooed on fans, it's likely that they will only increase in number due to Rogan's fame constantly growing.

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