Actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has withdrawn his support of Joe Rogan after clips resurfaced of the podcaster using the N-word multiple times during his show.
Rogan, 54, faced extensive criticism following his comments regarding COVID-19 on his Spotify program, The Joe Rogan Experience. In addition, several musical artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, have protested the streaming service by asking to remove their content because of the podcaster’s misinformation over it, Insider reported.
Last week, the 54-year-old took to Instagram to address the controversy in a nearly 10-minute video, stating that he was only interested in “telling the truth” and having “interesting conversations.”
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Johnson, 49, commented on the video, saying, “Great stuff here, brother. Perfectly articulated.” He added that he looked forward to appearing on Rogan’s podcast and “breaking out the tequila with you.”
As Sis2Sis previously reported, Grammy award-winning songwriter India Arie said on Monday in an Instagram post that she would remove her music from Spotify following the podcaster’s “language around race.” On Friday, she made a separate post in her Instagram Story Highlight entitled “Boycott,” with a mashup video of Rogan using the word on multiple occasions in the past.
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“He shouldn’t even be uttering the word. Don’t even say it under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there,” she said. Another video shared by Arie showed Rogan referencing Black neighborhoods as “Planet of the Apes.”
Johnson, who is half-Black American, walked back his initial comments in support of Rogan after author Don Winslow highlighted the podcaster’s “racial comments.”
“Dear @donwinslow, Thank you so much for this. I hear you as well as everyone here 100%. I was not aware of his N-word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative. Learning moment for me. Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend. DJ,” Johnson tweeted on Friday.
Dear @donwinslow
Thank you so much for this
I hear you as well as everyone here 100%
I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I've become educated to his complete narrative.
Learning moment for me.Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend.
DJ https://t.co/3mBf85wRoe— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) February 5, 2022
On Saturday, Rogan posted a video to his Instagram account, apologizing for his frequent use of the N-word. He said the clips were taken “out of context” and that his views on using the word have changed.
“It looks f**king horrible. Even to me,” Rogan said. “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. I haven’t said it in years.”
The podcaster firmly denied he was racist and went on to say that he only used the word when it “came up in conversation.”
While the controversy continued, Spotify removed over 70 of Rogan’s podcast episodes on Friday.
