Joe Rogan shared and deleted a fake CNN tweet claiming actor Steven Seagal joined Russian forces but said 'it wouldn't be surprising if it was true'
- Joe Rogan posted and then deleted a picture of a fake CNN tweet about actor Steven Seagal.
- The hoax tweet said Seagal had been spotted among Russian special forces near Kyiv.
Podcaster Joe Rogan on Monday shared and then deleted a parody tweet that claimed the actor Steven Seagal had joined Russian troops and was stationed near Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, amid Russia's invasion of the country.
"I deleted my earlier post about Steven Seagal being in Ukraine because it was parody, which isn't surprising, but honestly it wouldn't be surprising if it was true either," Rogan wrote in a new post midday Monday.
The fake post was an altered CNN tweet that said "intelligence agencies around the world" had noticed Seagal with "Russian special forces" positioned around the Gostomel airfield close to Kyiv, according to a screenshot of Rogan's deleted post shared by The Independent.
Neither Seagal nor Rogan responded to Insider's requests for comment.
A picture attached to the fake CNN tweet showed Seagal wearing military-esque camouflage gear and sunglasses, although that picture was actually a still from the 2017 film "Cartels," Rolling Stone reported.
In Rogan's new post, he added that Seagal "was banned from Ukraine in 2017 because he was labeled as a national security threat" and shared a picture of a Washington Post article from 2017 that detailed the actor's "bromance" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and reported that Ukraine prohibited him from entering the country for five years because he was a security threat.
Before it was deleted, Rogan's original post gained over 400,000 likes and 11,000 comments, according to Rolling Stone.
Seagal told Rolling Stone: "My prayers are that both countries will come to a positive, peaceful resolution where we can live & thrive together in peace."
Rogan has a history of making explosive remarks and sharing misinformation on his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience," which streams on Spotify and is the platform's most popular podcast in the United States.
He previously suggested on his show that young people didn't need to get vaccinated and touted the drug ivermectin as part of his COVID-19 recovery regimen despite the FDA and CDC warning against its use.
In January and early February, several prominent musicians like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, campaigned to get Rogan's podcast pulled from Spotify. Both Young and Mitchell pulled their music from the streaming service, saying it was allowing the influencer to spread COVID-19 misinformation.