Joe Rogan apologizes for using racial slurs on his podcast

Spotify announces changes to the platform after controversy 0:53

(CNN) —

Joe Rogan issued an apology on Instagram Saturday after a compilation of the host frequently using the "n" word in his podcast spread widely on social media.

Rogan used the word more than 20 times in clips from different podcast episodes, which he said were compiled over a span of 12 years.

In his apology, Rogan said that it is "the most unfortunate and shameful thing" that he has ever had to address publicly.

“I know that for most people, there is no context in which a white person is allowed to say that, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I'm okay with that,” he said.

"Now, I haven't said it in years," Rogan added.

Rogan also addressed a video of him comparing a black neighborhood to a Planet of the Apes movie.

"I certainly would never want to offend someone for entertainment with something as stupid as racism," he said.

Now Spotify, one of the world's largest streaming services, is under intense pressure because it is the exclusive distributor of Rogan's popular show.

advertising

• Who is Joe Rogan?

  The controversial podcast host on Spotify

A representative for Spotify declined to comment on whether it will take any action against Rogan.

But a person familiar with the matter told CNN Business that the company has had discussions with Rogan's team about concerns with some of his past episodes.

On Friday, it appeared that Spotify had removed more than 70 episodes of the Joe Rogan podcast, according to tracking site jremissing.com.

In fact, Rogan decided to cut certain past episodes along with his apology, the source said.

Singer-songwriter India Arie is among a number of music artists who recently called for their music to be removed from Spotify after misinformation about covid-19 was aired on Rogan's show, posting Rogan's compilation using the word " n" on his Instagram account.

The Grammy Award winner said that while she sympathizes with artists who have called for their content to be removed due to covid-19 misinformation, her protest is also about their language on race.

• Joe Rogan responds to artist criticism on Spotify

Rogan "shouldn't even be saying the word," Arie said.

"Don't even say it, in any context. Don't say it. That's where I am. I've always been there."

Arie used the hashtag #DeleteSpotify for her nearly 1 million Instagram followers.

"They take this money that's generated from streaming and they pay this guy $100 million, but they pay us like 0.003% of a penny," Arie said on Instagram.

"Just kick me out. I don't want to make money to pay for that."

According to a 2021 report by The New York Times, music industry estimates put Spotify's rate of payment to music artists at half a cent per stream, a rate often split between record companies and artists. .

Neil Young was the first recording artist to request that his music be removed from the platform on January 25.

Joni Mitchell joined him soon after and a growing list of musicians and personalities followed to call out Spotify or leave the channel altogether.

Spotify exclusively presents the popular podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," in which misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine has been spread.

• Spotify makes public its platform rules covering covid-19 misinformation.

  It will be enough?

Spotify responded to the criticism, saying it is adding a content notice to any podcast episode, not just Rogan's, that includes a discussion of Covid-19, a move Rogan has said he agrees with.

"It has become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely accepted information from the medical and scientific communities to guide us through this unprecedented time," CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek said in a statement this week. week.

Rogan claims that he has previously used the "n" word as part of a context, such as when discussing a Richard Pryor album or the repeated use of the word in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film "Pulp Fiction."

• Joe Rogan, controversial podcast host, says he tested positive for covid-19

"For a long time, when I mentioned that word, as if it appeared in a conversation," said Rogan.

"Instead of saying the n-word, I was just saying the word. I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing."

He added, "There's nothing I can do to reverse that... I hope, if anything, that this can be a teaching moment, because I never thought it would be taken out of context and put into a video like that."

Rogan assured in his apology that "he is not racist".

"Anytime you're in a situation where you have to say, I'm not a racist, you screwed up and clearly screwed up," Rogan said.

Rogan addressed a video of him comparing a black neighborhood in Philadelphia to a "Planet of the Apes" movie on a deleted podcast, claiming he was trying to say they were in Africa because "there are a lot of black people there."

"Planet of the Apes" did not take place in Africa, which Rogan acknowledged.

Why did Elon Musk smoke marijuana on this podcast?

2:06

"I certainly would never want to offend someone for entertainment with something as stupid as racism," Rogan said.

Last week, Rogan addressed the issue of race in an episode of his podcast with guest Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist and climate change skeptic.

After a brief discussion about "people's spectrum of hues", Rogan said that it was strange to call someone black or white based on their skin tone.

• Scientists call Joe Rogan's podcast episode with Jordan Peterson "absurd" and "dangerous"

CNN's Scottie Andrew and Brian Stelter contributed to this report.

Racism USASpotify