"The Olympics is a giant scam" - Joe Rogan lashes out at athlete-pay, also goes off on drag queen scene in opening ceremony

Joe Rogan has sounded off on the Olympics and his criticisms covered multiple topics including the financial structure and presentation decisions made in the opening ceremonies. The Paris Olympics is ongoing and is generating a lot of discourse beyond the athletic happenings which the polarizing podcast host also delved into.

'Joe Rogan Olympics' has been trending online as the comedian has sounded off about compensation or lack thereof for athletes and also for some of the performative aspects of the ceremonies on TV broadcasts.

The UFC commentator was speaking on these topics with UFC light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree on JRE MMA Show episode 161.

During this recent exchange with Khalil Rountree regarding the Olympic games this year, Rogan said:

"The Olympics is a giant scam. There's two things going on simultaneously, ok, you have the best athletes in the world participating in their disciplines. That's happening and then on top of that, you have enormous amounts of money being made and none of it is going to the athletes. It is a giant scam."

"So the kind of people that are putting together that ridiculous opening ceremony where you've got a bunch of drag queens and the last supper and all that wild s***, nobody understands it. Because it's not made by athletes. It's not made by the Olympics, it's made by the people that are in charge of putting the Olympics out."

The host of the Joe Rogan Experience then sounded off about those who helm the Olympics going to various countries to build an enormous venue and then after that nothing comes out of it. He referenced the people in those places who are poor and are probably wondering why funds were allocated towards this massive new venue when it could have benefitted those in need directly in the community.

Check out Joe Rogan's indictments of the Paris Olympics below:

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Joe Rogan and his negative sentiments toward the Olympics through the years

Joe Rogan sounding off on the Olympics is not reserved for these Paris games and a resurfaced clip from a February 2018 episode of the JRE sees him echoing similar points.

Although the games this year will enter into unprecedented territory with fifty thousand dollars being awarded to gold medalists, the 56-year-old still thinks there's a lot more that can be done.

The discourse around adequate athlete compensation monetarily is ongoing in several sporting federations and will continue for the foreseeable future.