Never meet your heroes! The Black Keys learned that lesson first-hand after getting snubbed by Red Hot Chili Peppers members Flea and John Frusciante.
Speaking with noted numskull Joe Rogan on the March 13 episode of his famously toxic podcast, the Black Keys explained that the incident occurred last summer at a restaurant in Madrid — presumably when both bands were in town to play the Mad Cool Festival in July 2023. "We just picked this random restaurant for lunch," singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach explained.
"We got sat next to Flea and John Frusciante," chimed in drummer Patrick Carney. "They were sitting there having the most nerdy conversation. Like, 'If you augment the 7th...' [We were] kind of like, 'Whoa, they are just such nerds.'"
Carney continued, "I was like, 'I'm going to go say what's up.' I went over and I shook Flea's hand, and then I went to go shake John Frusciante's hand and he's like, 'I don't do that.' And then Flea was like, 'Excuse me, I'm going to go wash my hands.' And they're like, 'We're germaphobes.' Aren't these guys legendary ex-heroin addicts and shit?"
Frankly, not wanting to shake someone's hand while eating during a pandemic doesn't seem all that weird, but we wouldn't expect noted anti-vaxxer Joe Rogan to understand something like that. Watch the clip below.