“I clearly have f***** up,” Rogan said.
Joe Rogan has apologised after a compilation emerged online highlighting the podcaster repeatedly using the n-word on his hit show.
The compilation – showing Rogan using the word over 20 times on The Joe Rogan Experience – was shared by singer-songwriter India Arie.
This was as she explained why she has asked for her music to be pulled from Spotify, following the service obtaining exclusive rights to Rogan’s podcast in 2020.
Arie said he objects to Rogan’s “language around race”.
In a video posted to Instagram, Rogan offered “sincere and humble apologies”, stating it was “the most regretful and shameful thing” he has ever had to talk about publicly.
“There’s a video that’s out, that’s a compilation of me saying the n-word,” he said.
“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 smushed together and it looks f****** horrible, even to me.
“Now, I know that to most people there’s 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, but for a long time, when I would bring that word up, like if it would come up in conversation, instead of saying ‘the n-word’, I would just say the word.
“I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing.”
Rogan said that in many of the compilation’s clips, he is quoting other people or talking about how the n-word is an “unusual word.”
“I was also talking about how there’s not another word like it in the entire English language,” he added.
“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.
“It’s a very unusual word but it’s not my word to use. I’m well aware of that now.
“But for years I used it in that manner. I never use 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***** up, and I clearly have f***** up.”
Rogan also addressed another in the clip in the compilation that shows the podcaster telling a story, during which he appears to compare being around black people with the movie Planet of the Apes.
“There’s a clip from 11 years ago. I was telling a story on the podcast about how me and my friend Tommy and his girlfriend, we got really high, we’re in Philadelphia and we went to go see Planet of the Apes,” he said.
“We didn’t know where we were going. We just got dropped off by a cab and we got dropped off in this all-black neighbourhood.
“I was trying to make the story entertaining and I said: ‘We got out and it was like we were in Africa, like we were in Planet of the Apes.’
“I did not, nor would I ever, say that black people are apes, but it sure f****** sounded like that.
“And I immediately afterwards said: ‘That’s a racist thing to say.’
“You can have clunky stories about anything but not about race and so I deleted that whole podcast but obviously somebody made a clip out of it.
“Taken out of context, it looks terrible but it looks terrible even in context,” Rogan said, before stating that it was an “idiotic thing to say”.
The podcaster also told his followers he wishes he could go back in time and change what he said.
“I do hope that this can be a teachable moment for anybody that doesn’t realise how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person’s mouth, in context or out of context,” Rogan added.
You can watch Rogan’s apology below.
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