Episode 1845: Zachary Levi | The Brogan Report

Overview

Episode 1845 of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring actor Zachary Levi (known for “Shazam!” and “Chuck”), aired on July 19, 2022, and contains problematic anti-trans rhetoric through uncritical praise of Jordan Peterson following his suspension from Twitter for deadnaming Elliot Page. The episode exemplifies how seemingly casual conversations can normalize and platform anti-LGBTQ viewpoints without proper pushback or fact-checking.

The Problem: Platforming Anti-Trans Rhetoric

Uncritical Praise of Jordan Peterson

During the episode, Levi extensively praised Jordan Peterson, calling him “one of the deepest thinkers” he’s ever heard and stating “I think that guy has a lot of integrity.” This praise came just weeks after Peterson was suspended from Twitter in June 2022 for deadnaming transgender actor Elliot Page and refusing to delete the tweet.

Why This Matters:

According to PinkNews, when discussing Peterson’s suspension, Rogan acknowledged that Peterson was suspended for deadnaming Page but characterized it as “not a thing to be getting offended about.” While Rogan himself expressed some skepticism about Peterson’s focus on this issue (quoting comedian Brian Simpson as saying Peterson should stick to “heavy-duty intellectual sh*t”), Levi’s response was to defend Peterson, saying “Look, it’s his life, it’s his Twitter.”

The Harm of Deadnaming

Deadnaming—using a transgender person’s birth name rather than their chosen name—is a form of harassment that:

Denies transgender people’s identities and lived experiences
Contributes to mental health crises in the trans community
Creates an environment where discrimination is normalized

According to research from The Trevor Project, transgender and nonbinary youth who reported having their pronouns respected by all or most people in their lives attempted suicide at half the rate of those who did not have their pronouns respected. Deadnaming has similar harmful effects on mental health and wellbeing.

Misgendering During the Episode

Multiple sources, including We Got This Covered, noted that Elliot Page was misgendered during the conversation, and Levi did not correct or push back on this characterization. While Rogan reportedly corrected himself, the overall framing of the discussion minimized the harm of anti-trans rhetoric.

9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Platforming Judy Wood’s Directed Energy Weapon Theory

According to the JRE Library episode page, Levi mentioned Judy Wood’s book “Where Did the Towers Go? Evidence of Directed Free-energy Technology on 9/11” during the conversation. This book promotes the thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that the World Trade Center towers were destroyed by directed energy weapons rather than in the well-documented terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Claim: Wood argues that the towers were “dustified” by some form of directed energy weapon—a mysterious and undefined form of advanced technology. According to RationalWiki, she claims “the upper 80 percent of each tower was turned into fine dust and did not crash to the earth.”

The Scientific Debunking:

This theory has been comprehensively rejected by the scientific and engineering communities:

Dr. Gregory S. Jenkins, a physicist, published a detailed paper titled “The Overwhelming Implausibility of Using Directed Energy Beams to Demolish the World Trade Center Towers.” His calculations demonstrated that the power required for such a weapon would need “thousands of earths worth of power” and “57 million MIRACL lasers of power.”
James Gourley published “A Refutation of the ‘Directed Energy Weapon’ / ‘Beam Weapon’ Hypothesis,” showing Wood’s hypothesis to be “wholly inadequate and unscientific” with “weakly supported arguments” that “rely on misinterpretations.”
The mainstream scientific community rejects Wood’s conclusions as pseudoscience that “lacks falsifiability” and provides no specification of mechanism, source, or measurable effects.

Why This Matters:

By mentioning this book without critical context or debunking, the episode gives credibility to a harmful conspiracy theory that disrespects the victims and families of the 9/11 attacks. The well-documented evidence shows that the towers collapsed due to the impact of hijacked airplanes and subsequent fires—a conclusion reached by extensive investigation including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report.

Pattern of Problematic Behavior

Zachary Levi’s Subsequent Controversies

While these controversies occurred after this episode aired, they provide important context about Levi’s pattern of promoting misinformation and harmful rhetoric:

Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories (January 2023): According to Variety, Levi faced significant backlash in January 2023 after responding “Hardcore agree” to a tweet asking if Pfizer is “a real danger to the world.” This was widely interpreted as anti-vaccine sentiment, despite Levi’s later attempts to clarify.

Vaccine Death Conspiracy (October 2024): Playbill reported that in October 2024, Levi suggested in an Instagram Live rant that beloved Broadway star Gavin Creel’s death from cancer was caused by COVID-19 vaccines—a baseless conspiracy theory that caused significant pain to Creel’s family and friends.

Why This Episode Is Problematic

Normalizing Anti-Trans Rhetoric: By allowing uncritical praise of Peterson immediately following his suspension for deadnaming, the episode signals that anti-trans harassment is acceptable or merely a matter of “personal opinion.”
Lack of Pushback: While Rogan expressed mild skepticism about Peterson’s priorities, neither host nor guest adequately addressed the real harm caused by deadnaming and misgendering transgender people.
Platforming 9/11 Conspiracy Theories: The mention of Judy Wood’s debunked directed energy weapon theory without scientific context or fact-checking gives credibility to pseudoscience and disrespects the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
False Equivalence: Levi’s comment that there is “fear and pain on all sides” creates a false equivalence between transgender people seeking basic dignity and respect, and those who actively harass and misgender them.
Platform Size Matters: With millions of listeners, The Joe Rogan Experience has enormous influence. Episodes like this contribute to an environment where anti-trans rhetoric is normalized, conspiracy theories are legitimized, and misinformation spreads unchecked.

The Broader Context

Jordan Peterson’s Anti-Trans Record

Jordan Peterson has a well-documented history of opposition to transgender rights:

Rose to prominence opposing Canada’s Bill C-16, which added gender identity and expression to human rights protections
Consistently refuses to use transgender people’s correct pronouns
Promotes the false narrative that affirming care for transgender youth constitutes “child abuse”
Was suspended from Twitter for violating the platform’s hateful conduct policy by deadnaming Elliot Page

Praising Peterson as having “integrity” while ignoring this record demonstrates either ignorance of the harm he causes or tacit acceptance of it.

What Could Have Been Done Better

A responsible discussion about controversial public figures should include:

Acknowledging Harm: Recognition that deadnaming and misgendering cause real psychological harm to transgender people
Expert Perspectives: Including voices from LGBTQ advocates or mental health professionals who work with transgender individuals
Factual Corrections: Pushing back on characterizations that minimize anti-trans harassment
Context: Explaining why platforms like Twitter have policies against deadnaming and hateful conduct

Conclusion

Episode 1845 demonstrates how casual conversations between hosts and guests can normalize harmful rhetoric when there’s insufficient pushback or critical analysis. While the episode primarily focused on Levi’s memoir and mental health journey, the uncritical praise of Jordan Peterson following his suspension for anti-trans harassment, combined with the misgendering of Elliot Page during the discussion, created a segment that contributed to the marginalization of transgender people.

This episode exemplifies why platforming matters: with millions of listeners, the choice to allow anti-trans rhetoric to go largely unchallenged has real-world consequences for the safety and dignity of transgender individuals.

This analysis focuses on factual claims and documented harms. The goal is not to attack individuals but to hold influential platforms accountable for the impact of platforming harmful rhetoric about marginalized communities.