Joe Rogan issued a lengthy apology after a video surfaced earlier this week showing him repeatedly using a racial slur on his podcast.
The comedian and UFC color commentator was responding to a video posted by singer India Arie after she announced plans to pull her music for Spotify while showing a clip where Rogan used the ‘N-word’ numerous times on his show over the years.
“I’m making this video to talk about the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly,” Rogan said on Instagram. “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 of me on my podcast and it’s all smushed together and it looks f*cking horrible, even to me.
“Now, I know that to most people there is 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. Although I haven’t used it for years, I remember when it came up I said the word instead of using the N-word. As long as the context was correct, I believed people would be able to understand my actions .”
Rogan said that the term was used by him in discussing comedy stars Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor as well as Lenny Bruce, Paul Mooney, as well as cases where it was used in movies directed like Quentin Tarantino.
Arie blasted Rogan for using the racial slur, announcing she would no longer allow her music on Spotify, the streaming music service that spent over $100 million for exclusive rights to Rogan’s popular podcast.
“He shouldn’t even be uttering the word,” Arie said. “Don’t even say it, under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I’ve always stood there .”
Spotify, which just removed 70 episodes of Rogan’s podcast, had already been under intense scrutiny for several controversial gusts speaking about the COVID-19 pandemic on his show. Rogan had previously addressed those issues where he was accused of spreading “dangerous misinformation” after Spotify announced plans to label episodes with a warning when dealing with COVID-19.
Rogan now admits fault in a public statement.
“It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use. Rogan stated that although I am aware of this now, it was something I had used for many years. Rogan said, “I didn’t use it as a racist because I’m not racially inclined, but when you find yourself in an awkward situation, you need to tell them that you are not racist. I clearly have f*cked up.
” This is my intent to speak out in the video and say that I cannot take it back. It would be great if I could. Obviously, that’s not possible. I do hope that if anything, that this can be a teachable moment. I never thought it would be taken out of context and put in a video like that and now that it is, holy sh*t it looks bad.”
Rogan addressed one clip where he said that he had compared the experience of being dropped off in Black neighborhoods by a taxi driver to the feeling of arriving at “Planet of the Apes .”
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” I didn’t and wouldn’t ever claim that Black people were apes, but it sure f*cking sounded similar,” Rogan stated. “I immediately afterwards said that’s a racist thing to say. ‘Planet of the Apes’ wasn’t even in Africa. I was just saying there’s a lot of Black people there. Then I started to talk about how positive it was, and how fun it was for me to see the move in a Black neighbourhood.
” It wasn’t racist, but it did sound terrible. Like I said, you can have clunky stories about anything but not about race. So I deleted that whole podcast, but obviously somebody made a clip out of it and taken out of context it looks terrible. It looks horrible even when it is in context. This is a stupid thing to do. I was just trying to be entertaining. I wasn’t racist .”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek defended its deal with Rogan ,, who holds the No. 1 podcast on the streaming service, adding the company doesn’t condone everything said on his show to explain why numerous episodes have been pulled in the past.
” I understand that we have an exclusive agreement with him. It’s easy to assume we agree with every word of his and the views expressed by his guests,” Ek stated. “That’s absolutely not the case.
“There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive.”
Spotify has not directly responded to the video posted where Rogan used racial slurs or the apology he issued on Friday.
Rogan, on the other hand, says that he is sorry and will do his best to make things right again.
“I can’t go back in time and change what I’ve said. I wish I could,” Rogan said. Rogan said, “Obviously that is 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. Although I would like to say more, this is all just me speaking from my heart. Although it makes me feel sick to watch, I hope that at least some people will understand and accept what I am saying. .”
My deepest, most sincere apologies. Much love
