Rogan apologizes for ‘regretful and shameful’ past use of racial slur

Joe Rogan apologized Saturday for the many previous instances in which the host used a racial slur on his Spotify podcast.

Mr. Rogan, already under fire in recent weeks after medical professionals and musicians decried him for helping spread misinformation on COVID-19, posted a video on Instagram to address what he described as “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”

Mr. Rogan made the apology in response to a compilation video shared widely on social media this week showing various moments over 12 years in which Mr. Rogan said the word on his show. The video was posted by singer India.Arie, who recently removed her catalog from Spotify in response to Mr. Rogan’s “language aroundrace.”

While Mr. Rogan argued that the clips were taken out of context, the comedian acknowledged that the video looked “horrible, even to me.” In a caption accompanying the video, Mr. Rogan wrote that there was “a lot of [expletive] from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had saiddifferently.”

“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 thatnow,” Mr. Rogan said in the video, adding that he hadn’t said the racial slur “inyears.”

Mr. Rogan noted how the discussions linked to the clips where he said the slur were about how the slur had been used by a white comedian like Lenny Bruce or

Black comedians such as Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor. He added that he never used the word “to be racist because I’m not racist.”

“I was also talking about how there’s not another word like it in the English language because it’s a word where only one group of people is allowed to use it — and they can use it in so many different ways,” he said in the video. “If a white person uses it, it’s racist, it’s toxic. But a Black person can use it, and it can be a punchline, it can be a term of endearment, it can be lyrics to a rap song, it can be a positive affirmation.

“It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use. I’m well aware of it now,” he added.

Spokesmen for Mr.Rogan and Spotify did not immediately respond to requests for commentSaturday.

The apology comes as Spotify has been under increased pressure to do more against Mr. Rogan for spreading misinformation ona show that reaches an estimated audience of 11 million people an episode. Mr. Rogan has repeatedly downplayed the need for coronavirus vaccines and used hisplatform to flirt with misinformation about COVID19. Podcasters and artists such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have told the streaming service they were taking their work off Spotify if the company did not stop Mr. Rogan from spreading misinformation on the pandemic. Spotify acquired Mr. Rogan’s podcast library in 2020 in a reported $100 milliondeal.

Mr. Rogan admitted last Sunday that he could do more to better inform his millionsof listeners, particularly when it comes to the pandemic.