Joe Rogan Criticizes President Trump Over Renaming of Lake Ontario

Podcaster Joe Rogan has torn into President Trump over his decision to rename Lake Ontario.

Rogan, who hosts one of the most-listened-to podcasts in the U.S., accused the man he endorsed in 2024 of attempting to distract voters from the war with Iran.

The influencer made the remarks on Tuesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience amid a bitter trade war between the U.S and Canada, during which Trump has signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.

“It’s to distract you from the fact we are in a war we can’t win with Iran,” Rogan blasted. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Who cares if it’s Lake Ontario? It’s a good name. We’ve had that name forever.”

This is not the first time Rogan has been vocal about his opposition to Trump’s war with Iran, now into its seventh month with no end in sight.

“We might’ve f***ed up by going to Iran,” he said on his podcast in July. “Most people don’t want it, except supporters of Israel.”

“They’re the only people that seem to be thinking it’s a good idea in this country.

“Most people are horrified by the idea, because Trump was elected - one of the pillars that he stood for, apparently, was that he doesn’t want any more wars.”

In April, he even suggested that there could be a possible link between the release of the Epstein files and the launch of the war with Iran.

“Look, the Epstein files comes out - we go to war with Iran,” he said. “It’s a good way to get people to stop talking about certain things.”

Rogan’s discussion about the Lake Ontario name change came amid the U.S.’s trade war with Canada, which saw the former country imposing tariffs on some imports from the latter. In response, Canada imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on some imports from the U.S.

Then, Trump went on to announce the renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

During Tuesday’s podcast episode Rogan and his guest, comedian Brian Simpson, shared trivia about the Great Lakes.

Simpson joked that the renaming of the lake means that the HOMES acronym - which helps school children remember Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Superior - will have to change.

“Homes?” Rogan asked. “Oh, yeah…the acronym. I didn’t learn that.”

Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario has been widely criticized, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney writing in a statement that the country will continue to recognise the lake’s original name.

“We know that America is changing,” he wrote. “Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.”

“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario - then, now and always.”