Joe Rogan’s interview with actor-director Tim Robbins ranges from film industry economics to political backlash and pandemic-era cultural policy. Robbins recounts opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, including his claim that the Baseball Hall of Fame cancelled an anniversary appearance amid efforts to brand him a “traitor”, and his allegation that media outlets sought to discredit his anti-war stage work Embedded. He also alleges a personal smear by the New York Post during that period.
Robbins draws parallels between wartime and Covid-era pressure, describing how his Los Angeles theatre, The Actors’ Gang, delayed reopening rather than require vaccine passports at the door. He argues that institutions and media messaging during Covid fostered conformity and division, while also discussing the downstream effects he says he has seen in young people’s social development.
On entertainment and power, Robbins says he was offered highly paid roles in projects he characterises as reputation-management efforts, including a FIFA-produced film about the organisation itself. He outlines the financing realities of contemporary film distribution and says risk-taking has diminished.
A major section covers rehabilitation work: Robbins describes The Actors’ Gang’s long-running prison programme in California and offers examples of inmates reporting changed behaviour and reduced violence. The conversation ends with a discussion of AI in Hollywood, including Robbins’s support for an “AI-free” seal and his criticism of union protections.
Robbins says that as his stage piece “Embedded” reached New York, it was attacked during previews by someone he claims was not a theatre critic, in an article he recalls appeared in The New Republic. He says the piece labelled him a “conspiracy theorist” and an “anti-Semite” to undermine the play at the Public Theater.
Read this moment →Robbins said he was offered substantial pay to play FIFA’s head in a film he characterises as FIFA “producing a movie about itself”, with a flattering portrayal of the organisation’s leadership. He added that he later received another offer he described as similarly reputation-polishing for a mining company following a major disaster, which he said contributed to his view that “oligarchs” were commissioning favourable films about themselves.
Read this moment →Robbins alleged that, during backlash over his opposition to the Iraq War, the New York Post published a false report about him “making out with a woman under a palm tree” at a club. He said the claim was invented and had personal consequences, including strain on his marriage at the time.
Read this moment →Robbins said his former partner, actor Susan Sarandon, lost her agent and has struggled to find work after taking a public position on Israel’s actions in Gaza. He presented it as an example of career retaliation linked to political speech in entertainment.
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