Dwayne Johnson has withdrawn his support for Spotify’s controversial premier podcasterJoe Rogan, who the Hollywood star had priorly called ‘perfectly articulated,’ after becoming aware of his use of the N-word. 

‘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,’ The Rock, 49, tweeted Friday after author and political activist Don Winslow called out the star for his support for Rogan.  

Rogan, 54, has been under fire in recent weeks from progressives and others in favor of canceling the Joe Rogan Experience host’s $100million deal with the world’s most popular streaming service for what’s been called misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.  

On Saturday, Rogan responded to an old clip that resurfaced from his podcast in which he used the N-word over 20 times, apologizing and calling it ‘the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.’ 

‘It looks f–king horrible. Even to me,’ Rogan said in the video. ‘I know that to most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, nevermind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now. I haven’t said it in years.’ 

Spotify has removed 113 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience after his apology. Most episodes that have been taken down were recorded before his recent COVID-19 controversy and involved far-right commentators. 

Johnson had priorly rallied around Rogan after the podcaster took to social media to speak out against allegations of ‘spreading COVID misinformation’ on his Spotify show. 

In response to Rogan’s video, Johnson wrote last Tuesday: ‘Great stuff here brother. Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you.’  

The Rock took to Twitter again on Saturday to further clarify he did not support Rogan anymore after political commentator and former GOP member Cheri Jacobus also brought to his attention Rogan’s use of the N-word.  

‘Hi @CheriJacobus, I owe you a sincere apology. I didn’t show up the way I would’ve liked to in our dialogue and my language to you was offensive. I apologize. Thank you and your followers for all the dialogue here. Have a great & productive weekend,’ Johnson wrote.   

Rogan has reportedly decided to remove several episodes of the show to coincide with his apology, according to CNN‘s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.

The temperature was turned up further when Grammy-winning R&B singer India Arie posted the problematic clips Friday afternoon, while explaining why she decided to part ways with the world’s most popular streaming service and calling for her followers to ‘delete Spotify,’ using the hashtag.

‘Hey ya’ll,’ the 46-year-old singer says in the first of a series of stories posted to her Instagram account. ‘I’m going to leave a short message here about why I decided to ask my music be pulled off of Spotify.

‘Check this out,’ Arie adds, before relaying a barrage of more than 20 clips of the longtime UFC commentator using the slur on his podcast – which then were posted to YouTube before Rogan signed with Spotify in 2020 – over the years, on several separate occasions, to her nearly 1 million followers. 

Rogan, in an Instagram video posted early Saturday, responded to the resurfaced clip by admitting ‘it looks f***ing horrible. Even to me.’ 

The UFC commentator promised the video consisted of ‘out of context’ bits from his long-running show, but said the video is ‘the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.’  

He added: ‘I know that to most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now. I haven’t said it in years.’ 

The comedian argued that he was fascinated by the slur and often used it when quoting standup routines from the likes of Red Foxx and Lenny Bruce.    

‘It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use,’ he said. ‘I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist, but whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say ‘I’m not racist,’ you’ve f***ed up, and I clearly have f***ed up.’

Rogan also responded to a clip that resurfaced of him calling a black neighborhood in Philadelphia that he saw a movie in ‘Planet of the Apes.’  

‘I was trying to make the story entertaining,’ he said. ‘I did not, nor did I ever say that black people are apes, but it sure f***ing sounded like that. It wasn’t a racist story, but it sounded terrible.’

‘I’ve said a lot of f***ing stupid s**t, which is okay, but not when you’re talking about race.’ 

Rogan wrapped up the nearly six-minute clip apologizing three times in hopes that his video would be a ‘teachable moment for anybody that doesn’t realize how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person’s mouth, in context or out of context.’  

The series of posts from the singer follows her recent announcement that she would be leaving Spotify this week, citing the platform’s hosting of Rogan’s podcast and his ‘language around race’ as the reasons why she pulled her music from the platform. 

‘I was actually, to be honest with you, surprised that my statements were picked up, because I thought people weren’t really going to listen to me, because that’s what I’m used to in the industry,’ she said, ‘but I am glad that I am being heard – and for that reason, I wanted to clarify my statements.’ 

‘You know, the n***** thing,’ the former Fear Factor host can be heard saying in one of the snippets of the slur-filled supercut. 

‘Boy, he’s a n*****,’ Rogan says in another snippet recorded on an old set of his long-running podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience – now the most listened to program on the Swedish streaming service.

In total, Rogan utters the word 24 times in 23 separate clips, which were recorded before the host left his longtime platform on YouTube for a $100million exclusive deal with Spotify in 2020.

‘He shouldn’t even be uttering the word,’ Arie asserts after airing the contentious compilation. ‘Don’t even say it, under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there.’ 

Arie offers her followers another explicit clip of the longtime comedian, where he jokingly referred to a movie theater in a predominantly black neighborhood as ‘Planet of the Apes.’  

In the snippet, Rogan can be heard telling two of his guests about an occasion where he took a cab with a friend to a movie theater airing ‘Planet of the Apes’ in a neighborhood the podcaster categorized as having ‘no white people.’

In the clip, Rogan recalls how he told the cabbie to take him to a theater he had never been to, to which the driver agrees.

”Is that in a good neighborhood?” Rogan remembers asking.

‘He goes, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,’ – the guy barely speaks English,’ Rogan says, mimicking a foreign accent when recounting what the driver said. 

He continues: ‘He takes us there, we get out, and we’re giggling, ‘We’re going to see Planet of the Apes!’ – and we walk into The Planet of the Apes. We walked into Africa. We walked in the door and there was no white people.’ 

Arie joined a number of other artists who have elected to remove their music from the service because of comments made by Rogan on his podcast. 

Most notably, renowned singer-songwriter Neil Young announced his exit from the service, citing ‘misinformation’ Rogan has spread about COVID-19, with artists like Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash also following suit. 

Arie added that Young voicing his concerns encouraged her to come forward with her own complaints. 

The resulting boycotts from the multiple musicians that have followed Young’s example saw Spotify lose $2billion in market value this week.

‘I empathize with the people who are leaving for the COVID disinformation reasons – and I think that they should. I also think that Joe Rogan has the right to say whatever he wants to say,’ Arie says, before adding, ‘I also think that I have the right to say whatever I want to say.

‘Spotify is built on the back of the music streaming, so they take this money that’s built from streaming and they pay this guy $100million but they pay us .003 percent of a penny? Just take me off! I don’t want to generate money that pays this.

‘Just take me off. That’s where I’m at.’

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek first responded to the controversy surrounding Rogan’s comments regarding COVID and vaccines against the deadly virus in an official statement on Sunday, saying Spotify would be adding COVID-19 content advisories to all podcast episodes that cover the virus. 

‘This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources,’ the statement said.

Ek has not yet responded to the clips of Rogan using the N-word. 

On Thursday, the Swede pushed back at employees demanding Rogan be ousted from the service’s catalogue, saying the controversial podcaster is vital to the platform’s future and it’s not the company’s place to ‘dictate the discourse’ of his show.

‘There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,’ Ek said at a company town hall on Wednesday, according to a transcript published by The Verge. 

But ‘if we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with.’

‘Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad,’ he added.  

Rogan took to social media on Monday to publicly address the backlash he is facing for his controversial comments regarding COVID, in a post discussing ‘some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days.’

He told fans on Instagram: ‘I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.’

Speaking on Young and Mitchell’s departure from Spotify, Rogan stated: ‘I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan, I’ve always have been a Neil Young fan.’   

Rogan’s return Friday coincided with around six dozen of his podcasts mysteriously vanishing from the site.

CNN’s Brian Stelter reported Saturday that Spotify has been in discussions with Rogan’s team recently about ‘concerns’ with some of his past episodes. 

Some of the episodes that have been removed are from years ago, four of the podcasts from 2010. 

Others taken down from the library of more than 1,700 shows include ones broadcast in 2018 and clearly had nothing to do with Rogan’s views on the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the episodes removed are ones containing guests that have proved to be the most controversial, particularly conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars.

Jones had been banned by Spotify from appearing in content on the platform for creating ‘hate content’ but Rogan interviewed him anyway and uploaded the interview to Spotify – earning a swift backlash for letting him spread misinformation.

Rogan’s brand often rejects ‘political correctness’ as he slams ‘cancel culture’ but his comments and those from his guests have sparked accusations of transphobia and Islamophobia.

He called MMA fighter Fallon Fox ‘a f**king man’ after she had transitioned in 2006. 

Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes once appeared on Rogan’s show where he argued that people who are Muslim are inbred. Rogan has also defended McInnes and the Proud Boys in a number of episodes which have now been removed from Spotify.

Spotify has also removed a number of Rogan’s episodes with far-right figures including Jones and McInnes, as well as former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. 

Other Joe Rogan Experience episodes not available on the platform include those with Chris D’Elia – the stand-up comedian who was accused of sexual misconduct. 

In one episode with D’Elia early into the coronavirus pandemic, Rogan boasted about his ability to obtain then-coveted COVID tests as angry fans called him out. At the time, it was very difficult to obtain tests.

Other episodes that were removed include those with Neal Brennan, a comedian known for creating Comedy Central series Chappelle’s Show with Dave Chappelle,  Shane Smith, the Executive Chairman of Vice Media and Dan Savage, an author, journalist, and LGBT community activist. 

In May 2020, Rogan signed a massive deal with Spotify that included (most of) his entire library of videos in a deal worth $100million.