Joe Rogan and a guest on his top-ranked Spotify podcast suggested in a July 2023 episode that US nuclear tests captured on video were faked, arguing that cameras could not sustain the forces that blew up model houses, cars and electrical structures. This is false; the Cold War-era experiments used film setups built to withstand atomic blasts and radiation, experts told AFP.
« Boy, that does look fake, » Rogan said as billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen rolled tape of nuclear test explosions during a July 19, 2023 episode of « The Joe Rogan Experience, » which reaches millions of listeners.
Rogan’s response came after Andreessen floated a conspiracy theory about experiments the United States conducted to expand its nuclear arsenal after detonating two atomic bombs over Japan during World War II.
Screenshot from Spotify taken July 28, 2023
« You’ve seen all the grainy footage of nuclear test blasts, » Andreessen said. « Well, there’s always been a conspiracy theory that those were all basically fabricated at this facility, that those bombs actually were never detonated. Basically, the US military was basically faking these bomb tests to freak out the Russians. »
Asked how the explosions were faked, Andreessen told Rogan: « So, what happened to the camera? How is that happening yet the camera is like totally stable and fine? And by the way, the film is fine. The radiation didn’t cause any damage to the film. »
Acknowledging the theories could be false, Andreessen said the footage may have involved miniature, table-top models or been « faked at Lookout Mountain, » a former California-based military installation that produced films and photos documenting nuclear tests.
Videos from Rogan’s podcast rocketed across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms in the days after the episode’s release, with one TikTok clip drawing more than 7.4 million views. The post’s caption: « Did The United States Fake These Nuclear Test Videos? »
Other posts have gone further, claiming atomic bombs themselves are fake.