Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is retracting his support for Joe Rogan, just days after he took to Instagram to say he was looking forward to coming onto the host Spotify podcast, “The Joe Rogan’s Experience.”
Following Johnson’s support for Rogan, a compilation video consisting of Rogan’s use of the N-word on several episodes of his podcast surfaced on social media, prompting Rogan to apologize once more.
Over the weekend, Rogan called his usage of the N-word “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly” in an Instagram post, emphasizing that he hasn’t used the racial slur in years.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek later apologized to the company’s staff for Rogan’s racist remarks and announced Spotify would invest $100 million in “marginalized” groups.
Author and political activist Don Winslow weighed in on the controversy surrounding Rogan’s use of the N-word, calling Johnson out on his previous defense of Rogan on social media.
“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. Have you actually listened to this man’s many racist statements about Black people?”
In response, Johnson thanked Winslow for bringing his attention to Rogan’s use of the N-word, “I hear you as well as everyone here 100%. I was not aware of his N-word use before my comments, but now I’ve become educated about his complete narrative. Learning moment for me.”
As of Feb. 4, Spotify has since removed 70 episodes of Rogan’s podcast, following the host’s latest controversy.
