Joe Rogan has Hosted Racist People — His Racism Should Surprise No One
The company someone keeps says a lot about them. In Rogan’s case, it says everything
It’s been impossible for Joe Rogan to stay out of the media spotlight recently. He was thrust into it in late January when Neil Young took a stand against his anti-vaccine commentary and gave Spotify an ultimatum. Other artists followed but before long, this trend helped a new controversy come to light. Artist India Arie let the world know that she was removing her music from Spotify due to Rogan’s use of the n-word. She went so far as to compile a video of Rogan’s multiple uses of the racial slur — it turns out there’s quite a few of them.
The podcast host has since issued an apology but the damage is done. If he’s so sorry, why did he continue to use the word so many times? It’s all too clear what’s really happening. Rogan isn’t sorry he used a word that offended so many people. He’s sorry he was called out on it. If he were actually sorry, he’d stop booking guests who lead to the type of conversations in which a white person thinks it’s okay to use a racial slur. However, he continues to defend his decision to book controversial speakers in the name of “interesting conversations with people that have differing opinions.”