#1590 - Phil Demers

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience. It's been a long time we've been doing this, my friend.

Phil Demers (0:18)

How long is it? It'll be, so you and I would have met eight years ago, just about to the date, in a few months, because it will be the eight-year anniversary of my being sued by Marineland of Canada for plotting to steal a Walrus, which would have been in February of 2013

Joe Rogan (0:38)

It's been so long, I hardly remember how we were introduced.

Phil Demers (0:42)

I can tell you the story.

Joe Rogan (0:43)

Please do.

Phil Demers (0:45)

When I was sued by Marineland, the headlines international were quite absurd, one of which in the, said, the Kanye West of animal training gets sued for 1.5. And I tweeted to you saying, dude, they're calling me the Kanye West of animal training. He's like, they're calling you the what?

And then you put straight to my DM, you said, dude, you gotta come to LA and we gotta talk about this. I'm like, dude, I'm on the next flight, let's do it.

Joe Rogan (1:06)

Well, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for dolphins and orcas. And I just, I think we're gonna look at, I've said this before on the podcast with you, but I think we're gonna look at it in the future the same way we look at slavery. I think they're, it makes me sad just talking about it.

I think they're as intelligent as we are. I think they're just different. And because we don't understand their language, we think it's okay. And I think it's beyond fucked up. Watching your documentary made me cry, man. Made me really cry when I was watching that dolphin get force fed. God damn, that's hard.

When they're holding his mouth open and shoving fish in his throat, I'm like fucking Christ, what is that? Imagine a person, imagine a person. I mean, you're dealing with an animal that has a cerebral cortex that's 40% larger than a person's.

Phil Demers (1:53)

Can I tell you the story of that animal?

His name was Sam. He came in an old male dolphin, wild caught from Russia. And when we received him, you only had to take one look and realize this animal is going to reject captivity. He's a fucking warrior. He's got scars up and down. This is not an animal that's gonna accept being told what to do by idiots like me.

And you just saw he rejected captivity. We did everything we could to keep him alive. And you know, if you notice in the documentary, I was told to turn the camera off. And I said, no, no, this is important. I knew then that a lot of the documentation of the things that I was taking could prove useful in the future. I didn't have an agenda when I was there. Remember, I was a company guy.

Joe Rogan (2:32)

I, well, you were a kid and I was a kid. That's what's crazy about your documentary, The Walrus and the Whistleblower.

SPEAKER_4 (2:39)

Whew, I'm getting emotional already.

Phil Demers (2:42)

I know I came to the right place, Joe. You've always been the biggest support. And the fact that you answer all my calls, you're one of the last. And I just know I'm in the right place. This is my safe place.

Joe Rogan (2:51)

And thank you for that, my friend, my God. I'm invested in you and your thing and this project and the fact that Canada stepped up and made all orca and dolphin captivity illegal.

Phil Demers (3:05)

And that doesn't exist without you and I having had done this.

The backstory to that is it was an interview with you and I where the senator's son approached the senator and said, is there any way we can help this guy? And then suddenly private members bills was introduced. I got a call saying, hey, we're looking to work on something here. And I was like, absolutely.

And that's how the bill got drafted. It doesn't exist without you and I haven't spoken. So in every which way, I have you to thank and the world over has you to thank because the influence that you have had on the passing of this law and now it's progressing to other countries. Other countries are consulting with, I'm actually being witnessed in Australia. I submitted some witness testimony and whatnot to support a similar ban.

And also, I'd like to take the opportunity to take this time to say that there's more laws coming in Canada. The next law that's been introduced by the same Senator, Senator Murray Sinclair, who's actually retiring, but he now has introduced what's called the Jane Goodall Act, which is now gonna extend animal protections and ban the captivity of great apes, big cats, because there's some places in Ontario, in Canada that are awful that they just breed these cats rapidly. And it's just not the place to have them. They're riding elephants at a place called the African Lion Safari, you're next. Anyways, laws are coming. So Joe, in every which way that I get attributed with having done all this stuff, I attribute it right back to you. That's the influence of this show. I knew something eight years ago when I was desperate in looking for a place to where I can speak unimpeded. The media doesn't allow me that.