Episode 1308: Eddie Bravo
Episode 1308: Eddie Bravo
TL;DR: Rogan platforms long-time friend Eddie Bravo for another round of flat earth advocacy, moon landing denial, and “they’re all in on it” conspiracy theorizing — pushing back at times but treating obvious pseudoscience as a legitimate debate.
Eddie Bravo is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor and founder of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu. He is a credentialed expert on grappling — and on grappling alone. He has no scientific training in astronomy, physics, geology, or aerospace engineering.
Despite this, JRE has hosted Bravo many times as a “skeptic” and conspiracy theorist, and #1308 continues that pattern.
The Core Problem
Bravo is one of the most prominent flat earth proponents in popular media, in large part because Rogan keeps inviting him on to discuss it.
- Flat earth: Bravo openly promotes the idea that the Earth is flat.
- Moon landing denial: He repeatedly cites the moon landings as faked.
- Global conspiracy framing: When pressed on whether “everyone is lying,” Bravo has answered: “Yes. It’s a global thing. They’re all in on it.”
“People are more easily controlled if they believe they’re standing on a ball as opposed to a flat surface.” — Eddie Bravo’s recurring framing
These are not edgy thought experiments. They are textbook pseudoscience presented to one of the largest audiences in podcasting.
What the Evidence Says
On the shape of the Earth:
- NASA / NOAA satellite imagery: Thousands of independent satellites, operated by dozens of nations and private companies (including non-US adversaries), have photographed Earth as a sphere. NASA Earth Observatory
- Eratosthenes (240 BCE): Measured Earth’s circumference using shadow angles in two Egyptian cities — got it correct to within ~10%. The sphericity of Earth has been settled science for over 2,000 years.
- Ships disappearing hull-first over the horizon, lunar eclipses showing a round Earth shadow, time zones, and circumnavigation all independently confirm a spherical Earth.
On the moon landings:
- Retroreflectors left on the lunar surface by Apollo 11, 14, and 15 are still used today by observatories worldwide (including non-US ones) to bounce lasers off the Moon. NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
- The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed the Apollo landing sites, showing equipment and astronaut tracks. NASA LRO Imagery
- Hundreds of thousands of people worked on Apollo across NASA, contractors, and international tracking stations. No credible whistleblower has ever emerged.
Joe Rogan’s Role
To Rogan’s partial credit, he does push back on Bravo’s flat earth views — he has stated publicly he believes Earth is round. But the criticisms remain:
- Repeated platforming: Rogan has had Bravo on the show many times, knowing that flat earth and moon landing denial will come up. Each appearance further normalizes the views to JRE’s massive audience.
- “Just asking questions” framing: Rogan frequently treats pseudoscientific claims as “interesting” or worth debating rather than as factually settled.
- Friendship over rigor: Bravo is a close personal friend (best man at Rogan’s wedding). The tone is collegial rather than confrontational, which signals to listeners that these are reasonable beliefs held by reasonable people.
- No expert counterweight: Rogan rarely brings a working astronomer, physicist, or aerospace engineer on to directly rebut Bravo. The audience hears the conspiracy framing far more often than the rebuttal.
Why It Matters
A 2018 YouGov poll found that only 66% of American millennials are firmly convinced the Earth is round, down from 94% in older generations. YouGov, 2018
Flat earth and moon landing denial are gateway conspiracies. They train audiences to distrust scientific consensus, photographic evidence, and institutional expertise — a habit that bleeds directly into anti-vaccine sentiment, climate denial, and election conspiracies.
When a podcast with tens of millions of listeners repeatedly treats “is the Earth round?” as a live debate, the cumulative effect on public scientific literacy is real and measurable.