Dwayne Johnson backpedals on support for Joe Rogan amid racist comments
Dwayne Johnson has pulled back on his support for Joe Rogan after video surfaced of the UFC commentator repeatedly using racial slurs throughout his podcast.
Last week, Rogan took to Instagram to post a 10-minute video in which he addressed accusations his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, was spreading misinformation surrounding COVID-19. In the video, Rogan said he's not "trying to promote misinformation" with his podcast.
"Great stuff here brother," Johnson commented below Rogan's video. "Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you."
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However, after a video of Rogan using the N-word on multiple occasions during previous podcast episodes went viral, The Rock quickly denounced his support of Rogan.
"I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I've become educated to his complete narrative," Johnson tweeted in response to a user who notified him of Rogan's comments. "Learning moment for me."
Rogan, for his part, issued a lengthy apology after it was discovered Spotify had pulled more than 110 episodes of the popular podcaster's show from their platform. The episodes removed were originally recorded between 2009 and 2018 — before the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said it was "the most regretful and shameful thing I've ever had to talk about publicly," although he said he has not used the N-word in years.
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"It looks f---ing horrible, even to me," Rogan said about the video-clip montage. "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," acknowledging "it's not my word to use." He also said, "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 fucked up — and I clearly have fucked up."
Rogan apologised, saying he only ever said the word in the context of speaking about the word itself. Instagram / @joerogan
Controversy over coronavirus misinformation on Rogan's podcast has boiled over in the last two weeks, spurring Neil Young and others to demand their songs be pulled from Spotify.
In a January 31 statement, Rogan had apologised to Spotify over the COVID-19 misinformation repercussions and said he would "try to balance things out" in future episodes.
Reported with Variety.
