Louisiana
Who is Louisiana native Theo Von? The ‘manosphere’ podcaster with Trump in Qatar
Podcaster Theo Von performed a set for U.S. troops in Qatar where he joked about doing drugs on a mixed-race baby, the sexuality of men in the U.S. Navy, and compared the Qatari hosts’ attire to Klansman robes.
His appearance Thursday preceded President Donald Trump’s visit to the Al-Udeid Air Base. The comedian’s remarks drew laughter and some groans from the service members in attendance and also some questions about why he was there. He’s one of the top podcasters working today and often compared to Joe Rogan for his longform, freewheeling interviews.
Podcaster Theo Von performed a set for U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday where he joked about doing drugs on a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the U.S. Navy, and compared the Qatari hosts’ attire to Klansman robes. His appearance preceded President Donald Trump’s visit to the Al-Udeid Air Base.
The comedian’s remarks drew laughter and some groans from the service members in attendance and also some questions about why he was there.
“Dad, you’ve got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Von,” Trump said in his own remarks Thursday, recalling his son Barron’s urging to do Von’s podcast last year. “I said, ‘Who the hell is Theo Von?’”
Here’s what you need to know about Von.
Who is Theo Von?
Theo Von, born Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III, is a 45-year-old stand-up comedian and podcaster who did an extended one-on-one podcast interview with Trump during the presidential campaign in which they discussed addiction and the opioid crisis.
Born and largely raised in what he describes as the “stray animal belt” of Louisiana, and legally emancipated at 14, Von’s first taste of the spotlight was on MTV reality shows, including the “Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour” and “The Challenge.”
He also competed in “Last Comic Standing,” and won the Comedy Central show “Reality Bites Back” over comedians like Amy Schumer and Tiffany Haddish. He has hosted the hidden camera show “Deal With It” and has had various acting roles, including in “Inside Amy Schumer” and the Chris Pratt movie “The Tomorrow War.”
Why is he famous?
Things really took off for Von when the self-described “white trash” creator found podcasting. In 2016, he started a longform video podcast called “This Past Weekend,” which, as of 2024 per Spotify’s year-end charts, was the fourth-biggest podcast on the streamer globally, with nearly 54,000 monthly listeners. A frequent guest on another popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Von speaks candidly about addiction and recovery and has over 7.6 million followers on TikTok. He has comedy specials on Netflix and is currently touring around the U.S. and Canada.
Von, often described as “the next Joe Rogan,” is part of the so-called manosphere, a rising online community of hypermasculine influencers and comedians who rebuff “cancel culture” and offer crudeness in its place
Von was also one of the founders of “King and The Sting,” a podcast that ran from 2018 to 2022, and featured Brendan Schaub and comedian Chris D’Elia, who has denied sexual misconduct allegations.
Why is he in Qatar?
That was the question of the day on social media, but Von has a lot of experience performing for the troops. He’s been part of five USO tours.
Where does he sit politically?
Von seems loath to pin himself down to a certain side, and he tries to balance his guests accordingly, although it’s tempting to make assumptions based on association.
Over the weekend, he was photographed having dinner with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Miami. The pair attended his “Return of the Rat” show alongside Trump media adviser Alex Bruesewitz.
New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica watched over 60 hours of Von’s podcast and saw various standup sets in an attempt to answer the question: “Is Theo Von podcasting from the right or the left?”
“That depends from where you’re looking,” Caramanica wrote.
Who goes on his podcast?
It seems like everybody makes a point to chat with Von these days, including politicians, Oscar-nominated actors, titans of business, athletes, comedians, documentarians and investigative journalists.
Recent guests have included Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Affleck, Morgan Wallen, Chelsea Handler, popular left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and David Spade. Last year, he hosted Rogan, Timothée Chalamet, JD Vance (when he was campaigning for vice president), Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ed Sheeran. He told Tom Green that he tried to host Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as well.
A state lawmaker whose district includes Iberville and nine other parishes will lead the way on the drawing of a new congressional map when the committee convenes Friday.
Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, will chair the hearings to draw a new congressional district map. He currently serves as chairman of the U.S. Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee.
On Wednesday, Kleinpeter said he has not worked on any maps. He is letting the committee members and the members of the Senate work on this with staff.
The move will come nine days after the U.S. Supreme Court on a 6-3 vote ruled one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black U.S. House districts unconstitutional.
“We can’t base it on race anymore, so the minority party is the Democrats,” he said. “The Democrats have migrated away from the New Orléans area, so we’re looking at Democrats versus Republicans, so the minority party — the Democrats — which means it’s more favored toward Baton Rouge.”
The move would work in favor of incumbent 6th District Congressman Cleo Fields, who was a candidate for the race which Gov. Jeff Lndry suspended in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
The ruling stemmed from Louisiana vs. Callais – a consolidation of Robinson vs. Callais – that centered on racial gerrymandering and redistricting in the state of Louisiana following the 2020 United States census. The lead plaintiff, Phillip “Bert” Callais, is a resident of Brusly.
The Supreme Court vote came despite the African American population comprising nearly one-third of the state’s population.
According to the 2020 Census, the Black or African American population in Louisiana was approximately 1,464,023,representing 31.4%of the state’s total population. Louisiana has one of the highest percentages of Black residents in the United States, ranking second behind Mississippi.
The Baton Rouge district would likely be the area to undergo the remap, he said.
It amounts to an intricate balancing act.
“What far-right Republicans don’t understand is that with Congress maps, you have to be within 776, 280 votes – within 50 votes of the other districts,” Kleinpeter said. “It’s not like our legislative maps where you can be off by thousands … when you start changing a precinct, it can run down a rabbit hole chasing this precinct over here and over there.
“We can easily draw a really strong nine Republican and one strong Democrat, so if you start watering districts down you could wind up with a 4-2 map.”
Republicans currently have a two-vote super majority vote.
“But some Republican districts are strong and others are weak,” Kleinpeter said. “If you take 58 percent Democrats and put them in Republican districts, you could end up losing Republicans.
“Drawing congress maps is very difficult – you have the leader of the party, and you have the Speaker of the House you have to protect,” he said. “You don’t want to jeopardize their maps at hole.”
One other issue is looming for the state, Kleinpeter said.
“What people don’t understand is that we will have to do this all over again in five years, after the next census comes out,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll people by that time.”
The 2030 Census will play a key role in the process, but it still requires participation.
“I had plenty of next-door neighbors who didn’t want to fill out their census” he said. “I’m going to push to fill out their census. We miss out on federal money and potentially risk losing a seat. “
Neuty, the iconic Bucktown nutria visits the state capitol, with Myra Lacoste, Denny Lacoste, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Dennis Lacoste Sr., and Louisiana state Senator J. Cameron Henry Jr. Neuty was an orphan, rescued by the Lacostes. In March 2023, LDWF agents attempted to confiscate the illegal pet.
VIDALIA, La. — Louisiana State Police arrested 18-year-old Gregory Steele early Sunday morning on two counts of vehicular homicide, one count of underage operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, one count vehicular negligent injuring and one count careless operation, according to Concordia Parish Jail records.
Steele, 18, a white male, was arrested in connection with an accident that occurred at approximately 1:54 a.m. on Sunday morning on Minorca Road in Vidalia. Two passengers in the vehicle were killed. Steele and another passenger were able to escape the vehicle.
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