Dwayne Johnson referred to himself as “The Rock”. He doesn’t enjoy the smells of Joe Rogan’s unorthodox podcast.
Former wrestler, actor Rogan pulled his support. This was just three days before Spotify’s star Rogan was called out on his frequent use of the N word.
‘I wasn’t aware of his N words use before I made my comments. However, now I know his whole story. Johnson (49) tweeted his learning moment after Don Winslow, a political activist and author, said that Rogan was a “learning moment” for him.
Rogan, 54, has been under fire in recent weeks from progressives and others calling on the streaming service to cancel the Joe Rogan Experience host’s $100million deal for spreading misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rogan responded on Saturday to an older clip from his podcast where he used N-words over twenty times. Rogan apologized for the incident and called it ‘the worst and most embarrassing thing that I’ve ever had in public.
‘It looks f***ing horrible. Rogan stated in the video, “Even to me.” ‘I know most people don’t believe that a person of color is allowed to speak that word publicly in any situation, even on a podcast. And I fully agree with this now. It’s something I’ve not said in many years.
Johnson had rallied around Rogan after the podcaster took to social media last Sunday to speak out against allegations of ‘spreading COVID misinformation’ on his Spotify show.
Johnson responded to Rogan’s video by writing last Tuesday, “Great stuff brother.” This is perfectly written. I look forward to meeting you one day, and sharing my love for tequila.
Spotify has taken down 113 episodes The Joe Rogan Experience. The majority of episodes have been removed since the episode was recorded prior to his COVID-19 controversy.
Dwayne John, Hollywood Star (left), has stopped supporting Spotify’s controversial first podcasterJoe Rogan. This was after he discovered that Rogan had used N-words in The Joe Rogan Experience.
After Don Winslow, author and activist, called out Rogan’s use, The Rock (49) tweeted that he didn’t know about it.
Johnson supported Johnson before he was embroiled in controversy. Neil Young accused Johnson of spreading COVID misinformation.
Johnson, who first gained fame as professional wrestler with the catchphrase, ‘Can you smell what The Rock is cooking,’ took to Twitter again on Saturday to make peace with political commentator and GOP strategist Cheri Jacobus after she slammed him for supporting Rogan.
‘Hi @CheriJacobus, I owe you a sincere apology. I didn’t show up the way I would’ve liked to in our dialogue and my language to you was offensive. I apologize. I am grateful for the conversation with you, your followers. Have a great & productive weekend,’ Johnson wrote.
On Wednesday, he had defended supporting Rogan and tweeted at the pundit:’ You’re all over my timeline so I wanted to share some context with you so hopefully you’re no longer triggered by headlines you read. He was honest and open to changing to become better, which I liked.
Even though Rogan has been in controversy recently, some conservative media leaders still support Rogan.
Donald Trump Jr. took to Twitter and condemned the “woke mob” for trying yet again to cancel Rogan.
“Cancel culture is really leaping the shark when longtime friendships start throwing each others under the bus in order to please half a dozen woke douchebags going all fake outraged on Twitter, like @TheRock did with @JoeRogan. Pathetic!’ Trump Jr. tweeted Saturday.
Ben Shapiro (Conservative commentator, Daily Wire founder) also supported Rogan. The left accused him of using the racial insult controversy to destroy a guy that doesn’t hold water for institutions.
Shapiro said: “Nobody is targeting Joe Rogan at the moment. He’s not going to apologize for anything that he has done in the past. All this is a chance for activists destroy someone who can’t provide water to those in institutional power, and whose audiences dwarf their own. This is it.
Jair Bolsonaro the President of Brazil has been widely criticized for his vaccination skepticism as well as the manner he governed Brazil during the pandemic. He also supported Rogan via social media.
I don’t know what @JoeRogan thinks, about me, or about my government. It doesn’t matter. It is important that everyone has the right to speak their mind, even if they disagree with our views. Freedom of speech can be defined as: Keep your cool! Bolsonaro sent a tweet on Wednesday: “Hugs from Brazil!”
Donald Trump Jr. used Twitter to criticize the ‘woke mob’ who tried to cancel Rogan yet again
Ben Shapiro, Conservative Commentator and Daily Wire founder, also supported Rogan
According to reports, Rogan decided to delete several episodes from the show in order to make amends. CNNBrian Stelter, chief media correspondent for the BBC.
The temperature was turned up further when Grammy-winning R&B singer India Arie posted the problematic clips Friday afternoon, while explaining why she decided to part ways with the world’s most popular streaming service and calling for her followers to ‘delete Spotify,’ using the hashtag.
The 46-year old singer sings, “Hey you’ll,” in her first Instagram story. “I want to write a quick message to explain why I asked Spotify to remove my music.
‘Check this out,’ Arie added, before posting a barrage of more than 20 clips of the longtime UFC commentator using the slur on his podcast over the years, on several separate occasions, to her nearly 1 million followers. These clips were uploaded to YouTube prior to Rogan signing with Spotify in 2020.
Rogan, in an Instagram video posted early Saturday, responded to the resurfaced clip by admitting ‘it looks f***ing horrible. So, even to me.
Rogan responded on Saturday to an older clip from his podcast that featured him using the N-word more than 20 times. He apologized for it and called it ‘the worst regrettable and shameful thing I’ve ever had.
Although the UFC commentator claimed that the video contained ‘out-of-context’ clips from his show, he said it was actually the same video. “The most shameful, regrettable thing that I have ever been forced to speak publicly about.”
He said, “I know most people don’t believe that a person of color is allowed to use that word in any context, not even publicly, on a podcast.” It’s something I’ve not said in many years.
He claimed that the slur fascinated him and that it was often used when quoting Standup routines by Lenny Bruce and Red Foxx.
He said, “It’s an unusual word but not mine to use.” ‘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’ve f***ed up, and I clearly have f***ed up.’
Joe Rogan Experience was a deal that netted him $100 million with the leading streamer
Rogan responded also to the clip of Rogan calling Philadelphia’s black neighborhoods that he had seen a film in “Planet of the Apes.”
He said, “I was trying make the story interesting.” ‘I did not, nor did I ever say that black people are apes, but it sure f***ing sounded like that. Although it wasn’t racist, the story sounded horrible.
‘I’ve said a lot of f***ing stupid s**t, which is okay, but not when you’re talking about race.’
Rogan finished the clip in six minutes and apologized three times. He wanted to make his video a teaching moment so that anyone that didn’t know how offensive the word could be from white people would see it.
Following her recent Spotify announcement, the singer posted a series of messages. The reasons for her decision to leave Spotify were Rogan’s podcast’s hosting and his language around race.
India Arie posted resurfaced clips from Joe Rogan, Spotify’s top podcaster. She was using the N word repeatedly after she pulled her discography earlier in the week.
Arie posted a series of posts following her announcement earlier this week about her decision to leave Spotify. Arie cited Spotify hosting Rogan’s podcast and his language around race as reasons for her pulling her music off the platform.
‘I was actually, to be honest with you, surprised that my statements were picked up, because I thought people weren’t really going to listen to me, because that’s what I’m used to in the industry,’ she said, ‘but I am glad that I am being heard – and for that reason, I wanted to clarify my statements.’
‘You know, the n***** thing,’ the former Fear Factor host can be heard saying in one of the snippets of the slur-filled supercut.
‘Boy, he’s a n*****,’ Rogan says in another snippet recorded on an old set of his long-running podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience – now the most listened to program on the Swedish streaming service.
Rogan uses the word 24x in 23 different clips. This was before he left YouTube in order to secure a deal worth $100 million with Spotify.
‘He shouldn’t even be uttering the word,’ Arie asserts after airing the contentious compilation. “Don’t say it. Do not say it. It’s my position. That’s where I stand.
Arie shows her admirers another video clip from the comedian who has been with them for many years. He jokes about it. A movie theatre in a mostly black area is called ‘Planet of the Apes.
The snippet shows Rogan telling his two guests about a time when he took a taxi with a friend from home to see a film theater showing ‘Planet of the Apes.’ This was in an area that the podcaster described as having “no white people.”
Rogan recounts his story to the cabbie, in which he asks him to take Rogan to see a theatre he has never seen. To this end, the driver accepts.
“Is it in a safe neighborhood?” Rogan recalls the question.
Rogan exclaims, “He goes,” he says in a accent that mimics a foreign accent, when Rogan recounts what the driver had said.
He continued: “He takes us there. We get out. And we are giggling. “We’re going see Planet of the Apes!” The Planet of the Apes is now our destination. We entered Africa. The door was empty of whites when we entered.
Arie, in a series video and text posts explained why she didn’t want her work not to fund Rogan and criticised Spotify for supporting him.
Rogan made comments about Arie’s podcast, which led to Arie joining a host of artists that have decided to take their music off the site.
Notable among them was Neil Young, the renowned singer and songwriter. He announced that he would be leaving the service citing the’misinformation Rogan spreads about COVID-19. Artists like Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, and others followed his lead.
Arie said that Young’s concerns encouraged her, and she to voice her own grievances.
Spotify lost $2billion this week due to the boycotts of multiple artists who followed Young’s lead.
‘I empathize with the people who are leaving for the COVID disinformation reasons – and I think that they should. Arie adds, “I think Joe Rogan also has the right say what he likes,” before saying, “I also believe that I have my right to speak whatever I wish.”
Spotify was built around music streaming. They pay this man $100 million, but we get.003 percent. Let me take you off. This is not how I want to make money.
Take me with you. This is where I am.
She urged Spotify users to remove her song, citing Rogan’s support. Rogan is their most-loved podcaster.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek initially responded to Rogan’s comments about COVID and vaccines for the deadly disease in an official statement issued Sunday. Ek stated that Spotify would add COVID-19 content advisory to all podcast episodes which include the virus.
The statement stated that the advisory would direct listeners towards our COVID-19 hub, which provides quick access to data-driven facts and up-to date information, shared by scientists, doctors, academics, public health officials around the globe, as well links to trusted sources.
Ek is yet to respond to Rogan’s clips using the N-word.
On Thursday, the Swede pushed back at employees demanding Rogan be ousted from the service’s catalogue, saying the controversial podcaster is vital to the platform’s future and it’s not the company’s place to ‘dictate the discourse’ of his show.
Ek claimed that Joe Rogan said many things about which I disagree and found very offensive at the company town hall. According to The Verge, the transcript was published.
“But if we are to achieve our bold ambitions it will require content on Spotify with which many people may not feel proud.
He said, “Not everything goes. But there will be opinions and ideas that we strongly disagree with and make us mad or sad.”
Rogan used social media to address backlash over controversial COVID comments. In a Monday post, Rogan discussed’some controversy that has been happening in the last few days’
His Instagram followers were told by him that he does not always know the answer. To try and balance these controversial views with others perspectives, I’ll do my best so that we might find a more positive point of view.
Rogan said that Mitchell and Young were wrong to leave Spotify. That is something I don’t want. “I’ve been a Neil Young lover since childhood.
Spotify lost $2 billion in market value after Neil Young, a singer who had removed his songs from Spotify to protest its hosting of the Joe Rogan Experience, took them off the platform.
Joni Mitchell (singer-songwriter) also demanded that Spotify remove her music.
Rogan returned Friday, and around 6 dozen of his podcasts disappeared mysteriously from the site.
Brian Stelter, CNN’s reporter for Saturday reported that Spotify had been talking to Rogan’s team about his ‘concerns’ with past episodes.
Some podcasts have been removed from episodes from many years ago. Four of those podcasts were from 2010.
Other shows were also removed from the archive of over 1,700 programs. They included those that were broadcast in 2018, which clearly did not have anything to do with Rogan’s opinions on the coronavirus epidemic.
There were episodes that contained guests, including Alex Jones (InfoWars), who proved controversial.
Spotify had banned Jones from being featured in Spotify content for making ‘hate material’. Rogan interview Jones and uploads the interview to Spotify. Jones was quickly criticized for spreading misinformation.
Rogan often denies ‘political correctness.’ He also slams “cancel culture”. However, Rogan’s comments as well as those of his guests have been accused of Islamophobia or transphobia.
He called MMA fighter Fallon Fox ‘a f**king man’ after she had transitioned in 2006.
Gavin McInnes of Proud Boys was once a guest on Rogan’s television show. He argued that Muslim people are inbred. Rogan was also known to defend McInnes, the Proud Boys and McInnes in many episodes. These episodes have since been removed from Spotify.
Alex Jones had been banned by Spotify from appearing in content on the platform for creating ‘hate content’ but Rogan interviewed him anyway. The entire series has been deleted
Spotify also deleted a few Rogan episodes featuring far-right figures such as Alex Jones and Gavin McInnes. Famously provocative, Rogan attacked feministism, Islam and political correctness during his short rise to viral fame.
Gavin McInnes, a British-Canadian activist who co-founded Vice Media in 2016, was among those episodes removed from Spotify.
Chris D’Elia, shown here, is a stand-up comedian accused of sexual misconduct. His appearance on Joe Rogan Experience was removed
Spotify also pulled a lot of Rogan episodes featuring far-right figures like Jones and McInnes.
Additional Joe Rogan Experience episodes are not accessible on the platform, including those featuring Chris D’Elia (the stand-up comedian and accused of sexual misconduct).
Rogan, in an episode that aired early in the coronavirus pandemic with D’Elia, boasted of his ability to get COVID test results. The tests were very hard to find at that time.
Other episodes that were removed include those with Neal Brennan, a comedian known for creating Comedy Central series Chappelle’s Show with Dave Chappelle, Shane Smith, the Executive Chairman of Vice Media and Dan Savage, an author, journalist, and LGBT community activist.
Rogan, who was worth over $100 million in total, signed an enormous deal with Spotify to include most of his video library.