Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang are learning in real time what happens when political fandom, podcast banter, and a high-stakes Senate race collide. After telling listeners not to donate to Rep. Jasmine Crockett as she runs for one of Texas’s Senate seats, the comics have now walked their comments back and publicly apologized. Their reversal is less about a single bad riff and more about how progressive audiences expect their favorite entertainers to talk about power, strategy, and money.
From podcast riff to political backlash
The controversy started on an episode of Las Culturistas, where Rogers and Yang were talking casually about the crowded field of Democrats vying to take on Texas Senator Ted Cruz. In that conversation, Rogers bluntly told listeners, “Don’t waste your money sending to Jasmine Crockett. Do not do it,” a line that was quickly clipped and shared as proof that the pair were discouraging donations to Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Senate bid. Yang chimed in with “I must agree,” and the two suggested that if You were going to give, it should be to another candidate they saw as more viable, comments that were later recounted in detail in coverage of the January 7 episode. The framing was not subtle, and it landed like a slap to Crockett’s supporters, who saw two influential queer entertainers telling a national fan base to sit on their wallets.
Rogers later admitted that his phrasing on Las Culturistas was the problem, not just the underlying strategic point he thought he was making. In a follow-up statement, he echoed the sentiment captured in a piece headlined Matt Rogers Apologizes For Discouraging Jasmine Crockett Donations On Las Culturistas, saying “My Phrasing Was Not Right” and acknowledging that his words had incited backlash among people excited about a progressive Black woman running to flip one of Texas’s Senate seats, a reaction that was documented in his apology. The blowback was swift enough that entertainment and politics outlets alike were suddenly dissecting a podcast bit as if it were a campaign memo.
Apologies, regrets, and a promise to “be more thoughtful”
Once the clip spread, both comics moved quickly into damage control, issuing statements that tried to balance contrition with an explanation of what they had meant to say. Rogers posted a note to fans that opened with “Hey everybody. I hear the response and I am taking every bit of it to heart, I promise,” a message that was shared widely as he pledged, in his words, to “be more thoughtful” about how he talks about candidates like Crockett, a promise captured in coverage of his public statement. Yang, who has built a national profile as a Saturday Night Live alum and one of the most visible queer performers on television, echoed that tone, saying he would be more careful about how his off-the-cuff commentary lands with people who look to him for cues about where to put their political energy.
Entertainment reporters noted that the pair’s regrets were not just about hurt feelings but about the optics of two successful entertainers appearing to undercut a sitting member of Congress. Several outlets framed the response as Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang Share Regrets After Their Jasmine Crockett Comments Spark Backlash, emphasizing that Matt Rogers and Bowen were now stressing their respect for Rep. Jasmine Crockett and her supporters, a shift that was highlighted in follow-up coverage. Yang’s own apology was framed as a response to crossing a “firebrand” Democrat, with one account quoting him saying “I will be more thoughtful” in future, a line that appeared in reporting on how he had crossed a firebrand and then tried to make amends.
Their regret tour stretched across multiple platforms, from social posts to entertainment write-ups that tracked how Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers responded to backlash over remarks about Rep. Jasmine Crockett, with one piece noting that Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers had both stressed their admiration for Crockett’s work in Congress even as they tried to explain their original “strategy” argument, a dynamic captured in coverage of how they responded. One entertainment summary labeled the situation “What To Know,” laying out how Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang had discouraged donations to Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s U.S. Senate campaign and then reversed course under pressure from fans and activists, a framing that appeared in a roundup of key.
Celebrity politics, strategy talk, and Crockett’s rising profile
Underneath the apologies sits a bigger question: what happens when celebrities start talking like campaign strategists in front of audiences that treat them more like friends than pundits. Rogers and Yang were essentially making a viability argument, suggesting that donors should consolidate behind a different Democrat in Texas, a point that was spelled out in political coverage of how the comedian had said voters should not “waste” their money backing the Texas candidate in the race to take on Texas Senator Ted. But when that kind of cold calculus is delivered in the breezy tone of a comedy podcast, it can sound less like analysis and more like a dismissal of a candidate who has become a symbol of unapologetic progressive politics.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s own profile has been rising, helped along by viral moments and appearances that have made her a favorite among younger Democrats. She has been featured on a Won’t Back Down Tour and even took part in a segment titled Jimmy Kimmel Gets Jasmine Crockett to Take Trump Dementia Test, a late-night bit that underscored how she is comfortable mixing sharp political critique with pop culture, as noted in coverage of her late-night appearances. That visibility helps explain why fans reacted so strongly when two queer entertainers, who often position themselves as aligned with the same progressive causes, told listeners not to send her money.
The episode also shows how quickly entertainment news, political coverage, and fan discourse now blur together. One entertainment wire noted that Matt Rogers, Bowen Yang Share Regrets After Their Jasmine Crockett Comments Spark Backlash, and that Matt Rogers and Bowen were now being discussed alongside other pop culture headlines like Jimmy Kimmel segments and even obituaries for figures such as T.K. Carter, the Punky Brewster and The Thing Actor who was reported to have died at 69, a juxtaposition that appeared in a roundup of entertainment. Another version of that same report spelled out Rogers’s original argument that “She’s not going to win” and then printed Roger and Yang’s statements below, underscoring how their strategic talk about Crockett’s chances had become a story in its own right, as seen in the detailed breakdown of their. Culture-focused outlets also weighed in, with one piece noting that Rogers, speaking as Rogers on Las Culturistas, had urged listeners not to support Jasmine Crockett before later stressing that he respected her work, a shift captured in a culture report.
By the time the dust started to settle, the story had been picked up across entertainment and local outlets, from an IMDb news brief titled Matt Rogers, Bowen Yang Share Regrets After Their Jasmine Crockett Comments Spark Backlash, which noted that Matt Rogers and Bowen were now emphasizing their support for Crockett, to regional pieces in places like Doniphan that recapped how Don’t waste your money sending to Jasmine Crockett had turned into a lesson in how Rogers and Yang talk about politics, as seen in a local write-up. National celebrity coverage framed it as part of a broader pattern of stars wading into electoral politics, with one summary noting that Bowen Yang, Matt Rogers, Jasmine Crockett, and other Celebrities are now central to how fans talk about campaigns, a point made in a celebrity-focused recap. Even a straightforward entertainment brief that noted Matt Rogers, Bowen Yang Share Regrets After Their Jasmine Crockett Comments Spark Backlash and that Matt Rogers and Bowen had promised to be more careful in future shows how a few sentences on a comedy podcast can ripple outward, as seen in the IMDb news item. In the end, the apologies may calm some of the anger, but they also serve as a reminder that in the current media ecosystem, even a throwaway line about a Senate race can become a referendum on who gets to shape the progressive agenda.
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