Episode 979: Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad)
Episode 979: Sargon of Akkad (Carl Benjamin)
TL;DR: Joe Rogan platformed Carl Benjamin — a YouTuber best known for harassing feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian, promoting GamerGate conspiracies, and later telling Labour MP Jess Phillips “I wouldn’t even rape you” — for a nearly four-hour culture-war monologue with minimal pushback.
This episode aired June 27, 2017, days after Benjamin participated in the VidCon harassment of Anita Sarkeesian. It is one of the JRE episodes Spotify later removed from its platform.
Who is Sargon of Akkad?
Carl Benjamin is a British YouTuber, not a researcher, journalist, or credentialed expert on any of the topics he discusses.
- Rose to prominence through GamerGate — a coordinated harassment campaign against women in the video game industry.
- Promoted the conspiracy theory that feminists had “co-opted” the Digital Games Research Association to influence game development. Wikipedia
- Was banned from Patreon in 2018 for using racial and homophobic slurs, including the n-word and “faggots.” Wikipedia
- Later ran as a UKIP candidate for European Parliament in 2019, helping pull the party toward the far right.
The VidCon Incident — Days Before This Episode Aired
At VidCon 2017 (June 22-24), Benjamin and a group of allied YouTubers filled the front rows of a panel about women online harassment and filmed Anita Sarkeesian.
Sarkeesian, from the stage, identified Benjamin as “a notorious harasser of mine” and called him “a garbage human.”
- VidCon founder Hank Green issued a public apology for the “intimidating behaviour” and “hostile environment” the group created. Kotaku
- Patreon opened an investigation into Benjamin’s conduct, calling it “distasteful.” Mic
Rogan booked Benjamin within days of this incident, giving him a friendly multi-hour platform to tell his side of the story to millions.
Key Problems With the Episode
1. Platforming a Documented Harasser as a Reasonable Voice
Benjamin’s entire public profile is built on years of videos targeting individual feminist women. Rogan framed him as an “anti-identitarian liberal” rather than a serial harasser.
- Benjamin’s first viral video was titled “Anita Sarkeesian Doesn’t Understand People” (2013).
- He has produced dozens of videos targeting Sarkeesian by name over many years.
- Sarkeesian has spoken publicly about leaving her home and hiring security due to the harassment campaigns Benjamin’s content fueled. The Guardian coverage of GamerGate
2. GamerGate Whitewashing
The episode treats GamerGate as a legitimate ethics-in-journalism movement rather than what researchers have documented it to be.
- Pew Research Center (2017): 41% of Americans had experienced online harassment; women aged 18-29 reported the most severe forms, including stalking and sexual harassment. Pew
- Academic consensus has characterized GamerGate as a harassment campaign, not a consumer movement. See Massanari, “#Gamergate and The Fappening” (2017), New Media & Society.
3. No Expertise on Any Topic Discussed
Benjamin presents himself as an authority on feminism, sociology, political theory, Islam, and history. He has no academic training in any of these fields.
4. Joe Rogan’s Role
Rogan does not function as a skeptical interviewer in this episode:
- He does not raise the VidCon incident in any challenging way despite it dominating tech news that week.
- He does not push back on Benjamin’s characterization of feminism as a coherent threat.
- He treats Benjamin’s culture-war framing as common sense, agreeing with much of it.
- He gives nearly four hours of uninterrupted reach to a guest whose primary skill is producing anti-feminist content.
This is the pattern critics later identified as the “Rogan pipeline” — comedians and curious-everyman framing used to mainstream figures the broader public would otherwise recognize as fringe.
What Happened Next
The years after this appearance vindicated the concerns about Benjamin:
- 2018: Banned by Patreon for racial slurs.
- 2019: His “I wouldn’t even rape you” tweet to MP Jess Phillips resurfaced during his UKIP campaign; he doubled down and added he “might [rape her] but nobody’s got that much beer.” BBC
- 2019: Twitter suspended his account.
- 2019: YouTube removed him from its Partner Program.
- 2019: Universities and a cathedral banned him from events.
Rogan’s June 2017 episode was an early major boost that helped legitimize a figure whose subsequent conduct would get him banned from nearly every mainstream platform.
Why It Matters
Sympathetic long-form interviews with documented harassers normalize harassment as legitimate political speech and expose vulnerable targets to renewed waves of abuse from the host’s audience.