Joe Rogan ripped into Katy Perry and her all-female Blue Origin space flight amid intense backlash over the brief trip aboard Jeff Bezos’ rocket.
“Hey Tim Dillion, I’m much better now that the ladies are back from space, thank you,” Rogan said at the beginning of his podcast released Saturday.
“It was very profound. I don’t know if you’ve seen Katy Perry talk about it, but she’s basically a guru now,” he said.
Last Monday, Perry rode alongside former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, astronaut Amanda Nguyễn, CBS morning host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and the billionaire’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez.
Rogan mocked Perry for bringing up a daisy with her during her trip, which she flashed to the cameras as the crew floated around the capsule.
“She brought a daisy, which is super important. It shows you how quick the flight was,” Rogan said. “The dead daisy that’s like snipped from its life source was still alive or still vibrant.”
Perry brought the “simple flower” with her as a tribute to her daughter, Daisy, and a symbolic gesture.
“Daisies are common flowers, but they grow through every condition,” Perry said after the flight, calling them “resilient.”
The mission marked the 104th woman to travel past the Karman Line, the internationally recognized edge of space, before returning to Blue Origin’s Texas facility for a total flight of 11 minutes.
Rogan laid into the historic crew, comparing their training to the process other space travelers had to endure.
“Let’s celebrate female astronauts because a lot of men astronauts, they have to go to school, they have to learn to be a pilot first, then they have to join the Air Force or the Navy and then get appointed by NASA,” Rogan said.
Dillon pointed out that there have been female astronauts in space before Monday’s all-women flight.
“Let’s not minimize this,” Rogan quipped.
NASA has sent 64 female astronauts into space, along with at least 11 others from various space agencies around the world.
Officials were hesitant to call Perry and her crew astronauts because they didn’t meet certain criteria laid out by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“The crew who flew to space this week on an automated flight by Blue Origin were brave and glam, but you cannot identify as an astronaut. They do not meet the FAA astronaut criteria,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
FAA guidelines state that for someone to be considered under the Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program, they must demonstrate “activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety.”
The April 14 mission was done through an automated flight.
“They essentially got to the threshold of space. They did not get like way out there where re-entry is very traumatic,” Rogan said.
“How great is it that they just get called astronaut?” he added.
Rogan shared he was interested in traveling on a Blue Origin-like flight to space but wasn’t keen on the idea of deep space exploration.
“I wouldn’t go to space space but I would do the 80 miles,” he said.
Perry faced criticism for her reaction upon landing back on Earth.
The 40-year-old popped out of the capsule, dropped to her knees and kissed the Texas dirt after the space trip.
Fast food giant Wendy’s mocked the singer over the stunt, asking if she could be sent back because of the gesture.
Perry described her short trip as the second greatest thing she has done.
“This experience is second to being a mom. That’s why it was hard for me to go because that’s all my love right there, and I have to surrender and trust that the universe is going to take care of me and protect me and also my family and daughter,” the “California Gurls” artist told reporters, according to People.
“I am full up from being able to get that gift of being a mom, and to go to space is incredible, and I wanted to model courage, worthiness and fearlessness.”