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Comment by pharke | Hacker News Reader

You have to keep in mind that Joe is a comedian first and foremost. Comedians have had the rug pulled out from under them with COVID-19. He's doing what's right for his family at the moment. I fully expect this to come up in one of his next episodes and since he's up front about this stuff it'll probably be summed up as "Sorry you fucks, a man's gotta eat!"

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He made over $30 million last year on just his podcast. HE still gets checks every month for News Radio since it syndicated. He has several investments in several businesses. He works for the UFC. He has Netflix specials.

Some guess he is pulling in over 100 million a year. I'm sure he and his family are going to be ok.

I figure Jamie probably makes 1 million a year...

1 million you say? I dunno... Jamie, pull that up!

Of all the places on the internet I visit, HN is the only place I regularly see comments like the one you’re responding to, suggesting that people with literally tens of millions of dollars are making some decision so they can “provide for their family”, as if they couldn’t do that already with a fraction of the interest they can make on their wealth.

I can’t put my finger on why it’s used so much. To frame the super rich 0.1% as merely responsible fathers and mothers?

Rogan makes tens of millions a year with the podcast ad revenue alone. I’ll make an educated guess his family is eating fine.

He has a $5M house in the LA Hills.. I think "doing the right thing for his family" means "buying a vacation home in Jackson Hole" or something by now..

https://www.thetravel.com/joe-rogan-house-bell-canyon-califo...

What the heck. That's quite modest.

Hmm.. maybe by certain definitions of the word.. 9,000sq ft. 6 bed/9 bath..

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/47-Dapplegray-Rd-Bell-Can...

Lifestyle inflation is a bitch.

I'm fairly sure he makes a lot more money from having the most popular 'pod in the world than doing a couple of comedy gigs here and there.

Both your reply and another assumes that Joe Rogan should just be happy with not making any money from other sources of revenue that have disappeared.

Why is that?

I don't think anyone is explicitly faulting Joe for trying to make money. The initial assumption in this comment chain was Joe NEEDS money, which is unlikely. The man can be enterprising without us having to pretend his family will starve otherwise.

Y'all are taking this way too literally. "a man's gotta eat" is a figure of speech, I meant he needs to maintain his current income. YouTube has probably been jerking him around for years now so moving to a signed multi-year deal is a smart choice in uncertain times.

Sure it's a figure of speech, but especially in a time with record unemployment, food insecurity surrounding remote schooling, and fiscal uncertainty, it's not exactly the best choice of words.

Also, the reference to "doing what's best for his family" is often used to describe making ends meat, not making sure 30M a year doesn't become only 10M a year.

I think having both phrases in one comment made people rightfully see it as a bit strange (hence the response) given he's a multimillionaire.

> the reference to "doing what's best for his family" is often used to describe making ends meat, not making sure 30M a year doesn't become only 10M a year

Actually I think that's entirely appropriate. Seeing a loss of earnings that large would be devastating to any individual or business.

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