The Rock Ditches His Support For Joe Rogan After N-Word Clips

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson pulled his support for disgraced comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan after clips surfaced of the “Joe Rogan Experience” host repeatedly using a racial slur.

New York Times bestselling author Don Winslow brought the video compilation to Johnson’s attention on Twitter, saying, “You’re a hero to many people and using your platform to defend Joe Rogan, a guy that used and laughed about using the N word dozens of times, is a terrible use of your power.”

Johnson responded by thanking Winslow.

“I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments,” Johnson said, adding that the experience was a “learning moment for me.”

Johnson had previously expressed public support for Rogan after multiple musicians pulled their music from Spotify, which hosts Rogan’s podcast. Singer Neil Young and others were angry about COVID-19 misinformation broadcast on Rogan’s show.

In response to the controversy, Rogan shared a video on Instagram in which he defended his guests and apologized to those offended by his show.

“Great stuff here brother,” Johnson wrote in the comments of Rogan’s apology post. “Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you.”

The video compilation of Rogan using the racial slur was shared on Instagram by Grammy-winning singer India.Arie in her explanation as to why she was pulling her music off Spotify. She noted that the podcast host shouldn’t use the word “under any context.”

On Saturday, Rogan issued a video apology via Instagram for his derogatory statements, saying, “It’s a video that’s made of clips taken out of context of me of 12 years of conversations on my podcast, and it’s all smooshed together, and it looks fucking horrible, even to me.”

“If a white person says that word, it’s racist and toxic,” he added, “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.”