Joe Rogan and fellow ‘manosphere’ podcaster Andrew Schulz have taken aim at Canada‘s Indigenous land acknowledgements, claiming the statements seem like ‘bragging’.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the pair discussed a recently resurfaced clip showing Kamala Harris urging Americans not to ‘forget the horrors the Europeans’ committed in colonizing North America.
Comedian Schulz said he had been forced to issue formal statements that acknowledge the Indigenous peoples of colonized areas ‘anytime I’m performing in Canada, like if it’s on like an indigenous area’.
‘I remember telling it to the chief of the tribe, I’m like, “Brother, that kind of seems like I’m bragging,”‘ he said of the practice.
He and Rogan joked that, inherently, the statements were all talk.
‘I’m going up there and be like, “Yo, this used to be yours, but the boys came in, got y’all the f**k out of here.” You really want me to go and remind everybody what happened before the comedy show?’ Schulz said.
‘We’re not giving it back. We stole it, but it’s ours now. Sorry,’ Rogan quipped.
‘Right! Like, who are we doing this for?’ Schulz said.
Joe Rogan panned Canada’s Indigenous land acknowledgements on The Joe Rogan Experience Saturday
The practice sees speakers issue a formal statement acknowledging the Indigenous peoples of an area. A billboard-size highway sign near Amherst, Nova Scotia, highlights the province’s rich Mi’kmaq heritage stands along the Trans-Canada Highway
The exchange comes as land acknowledgements continue to gain traction in Canada and other colonized countries.
The statements have been commonplace in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand for more than a decade.
The practice started to be adopted by some bodies in the US over the past six or so years, with arts institutions, museums, non-profits, churches, colleges, and even local governments among some of the early adopters.
At the 2020 Oscars, Jojo Rabbit Director Taika Waititi brought attention to the concept with an Indigenous land acknowledgement statement that singled out tribes indigenous to what is now Southern California.
‘We acknowledge them as the first peoples of this land on which the motion pictures community lives and works,’ he said while accepting his award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The statements typically come at the beginning of public and private gatherings.
Guest Andrew Schulz said he’d been forced to issue formal statements ‘anytime I’m performing in Canada, like if it’s on like an indigenous area’. Both agreed the practice seemed strange
Jojo Rabbit Director Taika Waititi offered an Indigenous land acknowledgement statement to tribes indigenous to what is now Southern California while accepting his award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2020 Oscars. The practice has picked up steam in the US since
Publications like The New York Times and Axios have panned them as self-serving and out-of-touch.
Critics call them effectively useless if not paired with more concrete action.
There are 574 federally recognized tribes in the US.