Joe Rogan has once again come under attack from social media users, leading to yet another apology from the star.
Following the controversy surrounding his Spotify-exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, a video started to circulate on social media showing Rogan repeatedly using the 'n-word' in public appearances and on his podcast.
The 29-second clip has been widely shared on platforms like Twitter, amassing millions of views in the process. It shows a compilation of times in the past when Rogan has used the slur. In fact, the video shows Rogan saying the word two-dozen times.
The video caused an uproar on social media, with broadcaster and SirusFM analyst Ameshia Cross tweeting:
"Joe Rogan rose to prominence with his show based solely off of racism, misogyny, and disinformation. His continued use of the n-word freely and [without] pause marked how he easily amassed engagement from jump. Spotify not only condoned it but supported it because racism is lucrative."
On Saturday, Rogan took to Instagram to issue an apology.
"I’m making this video to talk about the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly," the 54-year-old begins his video. "There’s a video that’s out, that’s a compilation of me saying the n-word.
"It’s a video that’s made of clips taken out of context of me of 12 years of conversations on my podcast, and it’s all smushed together, and it looks f****** horrible, even to me."
Watch Rogan's response below:Rogan continued: "Now I know that to most people there’s no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that.
"Now, I haven’t said in years, but for a long time, when I would bring that word up, like if it would come up in conversation, instead of saying ‘the n-word’, I would just say the word.
"I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing."
The podcast host then goes on to give examples of when he felt like it was okay to use the word - such as when he was discussing Pulp Fiction's use of the word or when he was discussing a Netflix executive using the word.
Nevertheless, Rogan admitted: "It’s not my word to use, I’m well aware of that now.
"But for years I used it in that manner. I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist, but whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say ‘I’m not racist’, you’ve f***** up, and I clearly have f***** up."
Rogan concluded his podcast by saying: "I can’t go back in time and change what I’ve said, I wish I could, obviously that’s not possible, but I do hope that this can be a teachable moment for anybody that doesn’t realize how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person’s mouth, in context or out of context.
"My sincere and humble apologies. I wish there was more that I could say.
"But all of this is just me talking from the bottom of my heart. It makes me sick watching that video. But hopefully, at least some of you will accept this and understand where I’m coming from."
In response to the clip, some of Rogan's fans thanked him for his "humbled explanation" and "ownership" of his use of the word.
Earlier this week, Rogan issued another apology regarding the controversy surrounding his choice of guests when discussing the pandemic on his podcast.
It came after musicians like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young requested their music to be removed from Spotify.
Now, another musician who had called for their music to be pulled is India.Arie - who was one of the stars who shared the clip of Rogan saying the 'n-word'.
In a statement posted to Instagram, she said: "I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify," before citing Rogan's "language around race" as one of the reasons for doing so.
The musician did not go into further details, but did say it was about "RESPECT - who gets it and who doesn't."
