Short answer: Seth Rogen does have an on-the-record public statement about Israel, and it is a critical one, not a supportive one. In a July 2020 interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, Rogen said he had been "fed a huge amount of lies about Israel" growing up and questioned how the founding of the state was explained to him as a child. He later clarified, in the same period, that he was not saying Israel should not exist. That is the actual record, and it is worth laying out in order.
What Seth Rogen has actually said
On July 27, 2020, Rogen appeared on Marc Maron's WTF podcast and spoke at length about his Jewish upbringing. He said, "As a Jewish person, I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life," and argued that the history he was taught left out that "there were people there" before the state was founded. He also said he would "never live in Israel." The comments were widely reported at the time by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Times of Israel, Newsweek, and other outlets, and they drew criticism from Jewish organizations who felt the remarks oversimplified a complicated history.
In follow-up interviews later that year, Rogen pushed back on the idea that he was calling for Israel's disappearance. He said he was "sensitive to Jews thinking that I don't think Israel should not exist," and pointed out that "my parents met in Israel" and that he has visited the country several times. He also said he had not apologized for the original comments, even as he acknowledged he had spoken about a "sensitive and nuanced" topic without enough context.
That 2020 clip has resurfaced online more than once since then, including a viral resharing in early 2024 that made it look, to some readers, like new commentary. It is not new. It is the same July 2020 podcast interview being recirculated, and we have not found reputable, sourced reporting of a fresh, distinct statement from Rogen specifically addressing Israel in the period since October 2023.
Jewish identity and the Hollywood-Israel conversation
Since October 2023, many Jewish entertainers have faced public pressure to state a position on Israel, one way or another, and the entertainment press has covered those statements closely when they happen. Rogen's public record on this predates that period by three years, and nothing in reputable reporting since then updates or reverses what he said in 2020. Being Jewish does not obligate any individual to make a public statement about Israeli government policy, and the fact that Rogen has not issued a new statement since 2023 is not itself evidence of a changed position, positive or negative.
This is worth naming plainly because search interest in "does [celebrity] support Israel" often outruns what is actually documented. Our job is to report what is verifiably on the record, including when that record is critical rather than supportive, and to flag when a widely shared clip is old news being treated as current.
The bottom line
Seth Rogen is on the record, as of a July 2020 WTF podcast interview, criticizing how Israel's founding history was presented to him growing up and saying he would never live there. He is also on the record, in follow-up comments from the same period, saying he does not believe Israel should not exist and that his own family history is tied to the country. That combination, critical of the narrative he was taught, not a call for Israel's end, is the actual public position, and it has not been reported to have changed since. If a more recent, reputable, sourced statement emerges, we will update this profile.
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Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
