The first time Turnstile's name came up in Joe Rogan's mouth, it was paired with a joke even he didn't seem to get: "Oh, is that cumcore?" The exchange happened on an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" titled "Protect Our Parks," featuring comedians Shane Gillis, Mark Normand, and Ari Shaffir. The conversation was originally centered on PSY but somehow drifted toward the Baltimore hardcore band.
Shaffir, sporting a Last Dinner Party T-shirt, steered the topic to Turnstile, and Gillis quickly chimed in as a "longtime fan," specifically citing "Generator" from the band's 2018 album "Time & Space." Normand explained to Rogan that they're "a young hardcore band," prompting Rogan's "cumcore" query. The three then played the music video for "Seein' Stars / Birds" off last year's album "Never Enough," with Rogan staring at the screen and asking, "What am I looking at? I don't understand what I'm looking at." The guests then started cheering things like "kids are starting bands again" and "rock is back."
The conversation drifted from "rock's revival" to "why rap fell off the charts," with Rogan directly pointing the finger at USAID's dismantling: "USAID, the international development agency, apparently funded a whole bunch of radical anti-government rappers overseas... mainly for the purpose of regime change." He said he'd "read this online," citing sources including Mike Benz, a former podcast guest who now serves as a spokesperson for the Trump administration.
But there's currently no evidence that USAID's dismantling has affected American rap's commercial performance. An Associated Press investigation once found that a U.S. government contractor tried to recruit Cuban rapper Aldo Rodriguez in 2009 in an attempt to stir up anti-government sentiment, but no other similar interventions have been reported. USAID's operations were transferred to the U.S. State Department in July 2025, following a series of department cuts pushed through by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
This isn't the first time Rogan has stirred controversy over USAID. Last year, he got into a heated exchange on his show with U2's Bono over the humanitarian impact of USAID's dismantling, with Bono citing data suggesting the cuts could lead to 300,000 deaths. Even earlier, in 2022, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify in protest of COVID-19 misinformation spread on Rogan's show.
As for the actual star of the story, Turnstile will headline a show in Halifax on August 26, then open for Tyler, The Creator at All Points East two days later. They've also been confirmed for the 2026 Camp Flog Gnaw lineup in Los Angeles this coming November.
