Dwayne Johnson Backtracks On Joe Rogan Support After ‘N-Word’ Controversy

KEY POINTS

Dwayne Johnson walked back his support of Joe Rogan amid the latter’s controversies
The actor learned about Rogan’s N-word use through his fans on social media
The “Red Notice” star said it was a “learning moment” for him

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson changed his mind on his support for Joe Rogan after learning about the latter’s N-word controversy.

The 49-year-old Hollywood actor retracted his support for the UFC color commentator and podcaster following Rogan’s latest scandal, which came amid the controversy surrounding the 54-year-old host’s discussions about COVID-19 on his podcast. Johnson had a change of heart when his fans informed him via social media of Rogan’s N-word use on his podcast.

“I was not aware of his N-word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative. Learning moment for me,” Johnson was quoted as saying by Deadline.

Before this, the “Red Notice” actor took Rogan’s side in a separate controversy about COVID-19 misinformation on his Spotify show, which included promoting ivermectin as a treatment for coronavirus symptoms and platforming vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists.

Amid the criticism, Rogan released a video telling his side of the story. In it, he said he was only interested in “telling the truth” to the public and having “interesting conversations” on his platform.

Johnson made the headlines when he left a comment on Rogan’s video, saying, “Great stuff here, brother. Perfectly articulated.” The former professional wrestler even noted that he was looking forward to one day appearing on the latter’s podcast.

The N-word controversy involving Rogan was first brought up by India Arie, who shared on social media clips of the podcaster using the word multiple times.

Arie also announced on Instagram that she’s decided to pull all of her music and her podcast from Spotify not only because of the issue with Rogan’s COVID-19 claims but also because of “his language around race.”

Rogan has since apologized for his use of the racial slur, admitting on Instagram that his actions looked “f—king horrible. Even to me.”

Spotify, for its part, has quietly deleted more than 100 episodes of Rogan’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. Most of the content removed from the streaming service featured other controversial personalities, including Alex Jones, Gavin Miles McInnes, Owen Benjamin and Milo Yiannopoulos.