American commentator and entrepreneur Joe Rogan previously had over 100 episodes of his popular podcast, The Joe Rogan, experience quietly removed from Spotify, the source where most of its listening traffic currently comes from. Rogan reportedly said multiple racial slurs on various episodes which led to immediate negative backlash from his listeners all across the globe. Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek previously claimed that even with Joe’s continuous use of the N-word, his corporation had no plans of removing his multi-million dollar podcast. However, it seems as if Ek’s hand was forced to make some sort of movement due to all of the feedback he has received, on top of several popular artists removing their widely streamed music and personal accounts from the platform: Indie Arie, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Nills Lofgren have officially separated themselves from Spotify because of Rogan’s words.
African-American promoter and music executive James Prince (J. Prince) uploaded a public statement to his Instagram in the defense of his close friend: “Joe Rogan is not a racist,” he began his claim with. “I know this brother. I forgive him because I never want to become one of those people that are filled with unforgiveness and hate that we complain about all the time. Let this be an example to others of the sensitivity of the word ‘n***a’ being said by anybody other than a n***a.”
This past Saturday, February 5, 2022, Rogan himself made a public apology toward the people and community he has offended by his repeated use of this specific word. He uploaded a post to his Instagram account that stated, “I know that to most people, there is no context where a White person is ever allowed to say that, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that. I certainly would never want to offend someone for entertainment with something as stupid as racism… I have not said it in years.” The 54-year-old also added how those times were the “most regretful and shameful thing” he has ever publicly done.