Joe Rogan refused to pay $500 fee to be nominated for Golden Globes’ Best Podcast Award

Joe Rogan has explained why he wasn’t listed among the nominees for the Golden Globes’ inaugural Best Podcast Award, claiming he refused to pay a $500 entry fee.

Regardless of your personal feelings on his opinions and comments, Joe Rogan lays claim to being the biggest podcasting personality in the world today. 2025 marked his sixth year in the number one spot on Spotify’s podcasting charts, all while also topping both Apple and YouTube’s respective lists too.

His unrivaled popularity landed the Joe Rogan Experience podcast among the 25 biggest, and thus, the 25 eligible for nomination at the Golden Globes. While traditionally focused on film and TV, the 2026 showcase added a category for podcasts for the very first time.

Actor Amy Poehler won the first-of-its-kind award for ‘Good Hang,’ which started in 2025. Why didn’t Rogan win? Or more to the point, why wasn’t Rogan’s show nominated? It turns out he refused to pay an admission fee.

Joe Rogan missed Golden Globes awards after refusing to pay $500 entry fee

“They asked me to submit to be nominated,” Rogan said on a January 29 episode of his show, as first picked up by Variety. “You had to pay $500… for paperwork or whatever.”

“I said ‘No.’ I don’t want to be part of that. I don’t care. You’re just a group of people that decide, all of a sudden, that you’re going to give an award out.”

Hammering the point of his popularity home, Rogan addressed his spot atop the podcasting landscape. “You can’t tell me I didn’t win. I’ve been number one for six years in a row.

“All of a sudden, you’re going to have a content in front of all these people wearing tuxedos, and you’re going to say now I’m not number one? F**k off. I don’t care that I’m number one, but I am, in fact, number one.”

Rogan addresses the Golden Globes at the 1:52:10 timestamp below.

Addressing the winner, Poehler, Rogan claimed she took home the trophy since he didn’t submit to be in the running.

“A lot of people say, ‘Why did Amy Poehler win?’ I didn’t submit,” Rogan exclaimed.

“I’m sure it’s good. It won. I’m sure someone must love it. If it sucked, they would give it to someone else, right? I just know Amy Poehler won, and a lot of people are upset.”

“She’s had a podcast for six months, and she won. Great, you gave it to a famous person. Which, you know, in that world that’s what they do.”

The full list of nominees for the Golden Globe award was as follows:

• Good Hang with Amy Poehler (Winner)
• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
• Call Her Daddy
• SmartLess
• The Mel Robbins Podcast
• Up First (NPR)

Who’s to say whether Rogan may change his tune by the time next year’s awards roll around, but evidently, he’s unfazed and remains assured of his empirically-backed top spot on the charts.