To his credit, rather than double down and join the far right, as so many attacked by progressives do, Joe Rogan did apologize, twice. When he caused Spotify, the streamer with exclusive rights to his massively popular podcast — where he’s spewed COVID misinformation and repeatedly dropped the N-word — to lose artists and billions in stock, he recorded heartfelt mea culpas and pledged to do better. It’s a low bar but it’s something. But now he’s fighting back.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, on the first episode of The Joe Rogan Experience since this weekend’s controversy, the NewsRadio alum-turned-podcaster addressed the negative press he’s received, starting with the supercut video in which he repeatedly uses a racial epithet rather than censoring it, as he later claimed he should have.
“In a lot of ways, this is a relief,” Rogan told his guest, comic Akaash Singh. “That video had always been out there. This is a political hit job. They’re taking all this stuff I’ve ever said that’s wrong and smushing it all together. It’s good because it makes me address some stuff that I really wish wasn’t out there.”
Rogan’s ire wasn’t reserved for those on the left. He also attacked those on the right — like Donald Trump — who gave him heat for apologizing at all. “You should apologize if you regret something,” he said, though he made sure to add, “I do think you have to be careful not to apologize for nonsense.”
In his first apology, namely for episodes in which he and certain guests spewed dangerous nonsense about a once-in-a-century public health crisis that’s still going strong, he vowed to do better, including inviting on guests who were, let’s say, more knowledgeable about medical issues than others have been. He’s also so far ignored a $100 million offer to decamp for Rumble, the far right video platform.
(Via THR)