Taylor Sheridan is a perfect Joe Rogan guest; they’re both an interesting combination of rich Hollywood elite and reactionary ‘anti-woke’ warrior. Rogan was paid $200 million for a three and a half year contract with Spotify, and Sheridan owns a $350 million ranch that he supposedly charged Paramount $50 thousand a day to shoot at. At the same time, they like to think of themselves as regular, tough American men, just like you and me, with traditional values. They spit at those hoity-toity critics who dare to dislike their work. On a recent three-hour-plus episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Sheridan and the host discussed the fabled good ol’ days, the secret Russian plot to turn Americans gay, and how you just can’t say anything anymore because of cancel culture, despite the two celebrities having audiences of millions. They started with bashing critics.

“Critics are less relevant today than at any time in human history. They really are,” said Rogan. “They’re off so much more than they’re on, and most people don’t buy into it at all. The perfect example was one of the Dave Chappelle specials. The critic score was like 3% on Rotten Tomatoes, and then the public score was 97%.” (There is no critics’ score for Dave Chappelle’s latest special, The Dreamer, and the audience score is 83%. There are three Chappelle specials with Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores, one at 90%, one at 40%, one at 36%.)

“That’s all my shows,” replied Sheridan. “Who the f*ck are you? Like, who are these people? I have a show called Mayor of Kingstown, which is all about literally the decay of an American city. I think it was 21% on Rotten Tomatoes and 94% Audience.” (May or Kingstown has a 42% critics’ score and a 90% audience score. Yellowstone has a 84% critics’ score and a 76% audience score, not that it matters.)”

Related: Here’s Every Movie Taylor Sheridan Wrote, Ranked

Taylor Sheridan: Anti Forrest Gump Justice Warrior
Forrest Gump Release Date July 6, 1994 Director Robert Zemeckis Rating PG-13 Runtime 142

“I don’t know why, but they seem to feel a need to judge any project through the lens of today’s new morality. What should we be making movies about? You can make a sh*tty movie about something that they support, and they’re going to support that movie. That’s not my job,” continued Sheridan in the conversation. “My job as a storyteller is to pick a world and look through the window and not judge it and go, ‘Hey, here’s what it was.’ For me, the Holy Grail as a storyteller is to entertain, educate, and enlighten. Don’t give anybody answers. Just lots of questions to think about. That’s my job.” He continued:

Because I can’t stand to pay money and have somebody preach to me their ideas. That’s the reason I hated Forrest Gump. This doddering f*cking idiot is the only guy that can figure out the world? He’s just gonna go on a f*cking run across America and everyone’s gonna follow him and that’s gonna heal the country? I just was like, “What is this sh*t?”

“Well, I think back then, it was just novel,” replied Rogan. “Because it was, the idea was like, it could be so much simpler, that the simple guy could figure it out. And that we’re also disconnected.”

“The irony is,” responded Sheridan, “you couldn’t make that movie today. Someone would be too offended by the portrayal of Forrest’s character.”

That exchange was only in the first 10 minutes of the more than three hour conversation, so check out The Joe Rogan Experience episode 2083 for much more. And you can watch what Sheridan calls a “doddering f*cking idiot” in Forrest Gump for free on Pluto TV through the link below, or with a Paramount+ subscription or a Prime Video one.

Stream on Pluto TV

And if you’re a fan of that doddering idiot, check out some fun facts about Forrest Gump below: