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Donald Trump’s historic inauguration has, unsurprisingly, attracted a sprawling list of famous faces, ranging from the usual gaggle of tech bros and media personalities to celebrities, U.S. podcasting illuminati, and members of the blood-sport community.
Some names included on the list may raise eyebrows given their tenuous-at-best connection to the President, with others accused or even found liable for various crimes.
Here’s a look at the celebrities who made the cut for Monday’s ceremony.
Joe Rogan
Rogan hosts one of the most famous podcasts in the world, The Joe Rogan Experience, which has over 11 million listeners per episode. The President rounded off his 2024 campaign with an interview on the show in October, which has been viewed more than 54 million times on YouTube.
Though now viewed as a solid Trump acolyte, the former UFC color commentator and Fear Factor host previously held fairly socially liberal views, as well as a fierce advocate for free speech and gun rights.
As recently as 2022, Rogan said he did not want to “help” Trump in the election because he was “an existential threat to democracy,” and even praised Trump’s then-rival Robert F Kennedy Jr, who was running as an independent candidate, saying he was “the only one that makes sense to me.”
Trump, a well-documented fan of UFC and other fighting sports, said Rogan would get “booed” the next time he was at an event.
Dana White
A close friend of Rogan and supporter of Trump, UFC president White is also in attendance, having given remarks on Sunday evening at Trump’s pre-inauguration rally in Washington, D.C.
“The people have spoke loud and clear. America wants President Trump back in the White House. Think about this: Winning this election after everything that has happened over the last few years is an amazing achievement and an incredible comeback story,” he said.
White has previously described the President-elect as “the ultimate American badass.”
The relationship between the two men has deepened over the years, with Trump endorsing White in the early years of UFC and the UFC boss returning the favor with Trump’s presidential election bids.
Theo Von
The host of the This Past Weekend podcast is also in attendance. Von, who has 3.51 million subscribers on YouTube and 7.3 million followers on Instagram, interviewed Trump for his own podcast in September.
His widely popular podcast has a huge audience among young men, with Trump’s episode on his podcast having been viewed 15 million times to date.
At Trump’s victory speech in November he thanked his friends and family, and gave special shout-outs to a selection of people which included Rogan, White and Von, as well as several other members of the podcasting illuminati.
Jake and Logan Paul
The two viral brothers rose to fame making short videos on the platform Vine (in the days before TikTok), before going on to become two of the most wealthy YouTube content creators. As of November their combined net worth is thought to be more than $200 million.
Logan Paul is seen by some as a divisive character, due to the controversial natire of some of his previous YouTube videos. He has recently made appearances as a professional wrestler and launched the energy drink Prime.
Paul interviewed Trump in June for an episode of his Impaulsive podcast, during which the president urged young voters to vote for him over Joe Biden, who he was running against at the time.
Paul and Trump also discussed a variety of subjects including the president’s conviction and his “friendship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Jake Paul, 28, has delved into boxing in recent years and outpointed heavyweight legend Mike Tyson in November. A month prior he announced his endorsement for Trump for the 2024 election, praising his economic policy and slamming the Biden administration.
Connor McGregor
The Irish former UFC champion was also pictured riding in the bus alongside the Pauls and their mother, despite his younger brother being his “rival.” The surprising link-up comes amid rumors that McGregor will box Logan in India.
Unlike the Pauls, it is unclear how McGregor is connected to the President-elect, or how he swung his invite.
Last week, it was reported that a woman is suing the fighter after accusing him of sexual assault in 2023. The woman was previously unsuccessful in getting criminal charges filed, and is also suing employees at the basketball arena where she alleges the attack took place during a Miami Heat game.
In November, a civil-court jury in Ireland awarded €250,000 to a different woman, who said she was “brutally raped and battered” by McGregor in 2018.
Rupert Murdoch
The Australian-born American media mogul, 93, owns one of Trump’s most vocal promoters – the Fox News network. Murdoch’s appearance at Monday’s ceremony comes after multiple twists and turns in the tumultuous relationship between the two men.
Trump has often praised Fox and its commentators, even going so far as selecting former network anchor Pete Hegseth to serve in his cabinet. However, he has also thrown insults at various points in the run up to his election victory following perceived slights.
However, The Independent has identified at least 18 former Fox News employees who have been appointed or nominated by Trump.
Tucker Carlson
Carlson is a long-standing cheerleader for Trump, also having been a former Fox News host, conducting multiple enthusiastic interviews with the president, and making appearances at numerous campaign rallies on his behalf.
However, his zealotry has ascended to new and at times uncomfortable heights, once describing Democrats as as “the party of weirdos” – while also talking enthusiastically about how the former president would give “bad little girls” a “vigorous spanking”.
Like many of his former colleagues Carlson has also frequently denounced the 2020 election results and insinuated it must have been stolen from Trump by Democrats because Harris “has no skills”.
Carlson left Fox in acrimonious circumstances in April 2023 after the network paid more than $787m to settle a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over the false statements and conspiracy theories it aired in the wake of the 2020 election amplifying Trump’s unfounded allegations that voting machines were manipulated to rob him of victory.
Wayne Gretzky
Trump previously joked that Gretzky, a Canadian former hockey champion and coach, would become the “governor” of Canada, should it become the 51st U.S. state.
“I was with Wayne Gretzky. I said, ‘Wayne, would you like to be the governor of Canada?’ I can’t imagine anybody doing better than Wayne,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago press conference earlier this month.
“Wayne was not too interested. But he probably would have liked statehood,” Trump said. “He’s a friend of mine. He’s a great guy. He’s the great one. We call him the great one, right? He’s a great hockey player.”
Gretzky attended a victory party for the President’s 2024 election win. His son-in-law, Dustin Johnson, plays on the LIV Golf tour, which has played tournaments at Trump’s golf courses.
Sam Altman
Among the hordes of billionaire tech bros, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, was the CEO of OpenAI.
Altman recently trolled Democrats online by posting a letter apparently sent to him by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Michael Benne with concerns over his $1 million donation to the Trump inauguration fund.
The letter accused him of donating the money in order to “cozy up to the incoming Trump administration” to “avoid scrutiny, limit regulation, and buy favor.” He added: “Tunny, they never sent me one of these for contributing to democrats….”
