Joe Rogan releases apology video after clips of N-word use and a racist story go viral

Simply after Spotify eliminated round 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast with out providing a proof, Rogan posted a video on Instagram apologizing for saying the N-word on his present up to now (through New York Instances). In his apology, Rogan particularly addresses a clip compilation, which was shared by singer India Arie, that exhibits Rogan saying the N-word repeatedly throughout podcast episodes over a number of years.

“I do know that to most individuals, there isn’t any context the place a white particular person is ever allowed to say that phrase, by no means thoughts publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now,” Rogan says. “As a substitute of claiming the N-word, I might simply say the phrase. I assumed so long as it was in context, folks would perceive what I used to be doing.”

A supply near the state of affairs informed Bloomberg that Rogan selected to take away these episodes after discussing it with Spotify, nonetheless, this nonetheless hasn’t been confirmed by the corporate. The Verge reached out to Spotify with a request for remark however didn’t instantly hear again.

Rogan says the clips have been taken “out of context,” and that he used the N-word when speaking about comedians, akin to Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Lenny Bruce, who used the phrase up to now. He additionally apologizes for one more clip through which he compares being in an space with a big inhabitants of Black folks to the movie Planet of the Apes, and says that “instantly afterward” he informed the story he referred to as it “a racist factor to say.” Based on Rogan, he selected to delete that episode as a result of it was “clunky.”

Arie shared the compilation on her Instagram story simply days after she introduced her departure from Spotify. Arie joins artists Neil Younger, Joni Mitchell, and Nils Lofgren in leaving Spotify in protest of Rogan’s podcast. However in contrast to Younger, Mitchell, and Lofgren, who’re protesting the podcast over its potential unfold of COVID-19 misinformation, Arie says she’s troubled by Rogan’s “language round race.”

Spotify has confronted a rising backlash for its dealing with of Rogan’s podcast, which it hosts completely after inking a $100 million cope with Rogan in 2020. Critics, together with dozens of medical and scientific professionals, argue that Spotify ought to handle the obvious COVID-19 misinformation in Rogan’s podcast, which features a suggestion that wholesome younger adults don’t have to get vaccinated. Spotify later responded by placing warning labels on episodes that speak about COVID.

Replace Februrary sixth 8:20AM ET: Up to date so as to add that the episodes in query may’ve been eliminated at Joe Rogan’s request.