Joe Rogan: Excessive coronavirus restrictions may force move to Texas

Popular podcaster Joe Rogan declared on Thursday a willingness to move from California to Texas due to what he says are excessive coronavirus restrictions.

He also called the Golden State “extremely expensive” with “ridiculous” taxes.

Rogan, who reportedly earned $30 million in revenue across 190 million downloads per month in 2019 for his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on YouTube, shared his perspective after an interview with Elon Musk.

The Tesla CEO has also been highly critical of California officials regarding a reopening of his Fremont car manufacturing facility.

“I might move to Texas. … If California continues to be this restrictive I don’t know if this is a good place to live,” Rogan, 52, said. “First of all, it’s extremely expensive. The taxes are ridiculous.”

“And if they really say that we can’t do stand-up until 2022, or some shit like that, I might jet. I’m not kidding. This is silly. I don’t need to be here,” he continued.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti received blowback for his comments to ABC’s George Stephanopolous earlier this week after stating the city will never be “fully opened” until “we have a cure.”

“We’ve never been fully closed; we’ll never be completely open until we have cure,” Garcetti said.

Health experts have said a vaccine won’t likely be available until 2021 at the earliest.

“I like Austin a lot, I like Dallas a lot, I like Houston,” Rogan continued, naming possible Texas cities to live in. “I don’t know if I would live in Houston. The summer is a motherf—er.”

Musk earlier this month dared California officials to place him under arrest for reopening his Tesla factory in defiance of local COVID-19 restrictions as more protests have popped up across the state. California is approaching two months under a stay-at-home order that began on March 19.

President Trump also voiced his support for Musk in a Tuesday tweet to his more than 79 million followers.

“California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “It can be done Fast & Safely! ”

California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW. It can be done Fast & Safely!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2020

The death toll in California, the nation’s most populous state with approximately 40 million people, surpassed 3,000 earlier this week.

The death toll in Texas, the second most populous state with close to 30 million people, stands at 1,216.

The Lone Star State began reopening its economy on May 1.