(New York) Immersed in a controversy over misinformation, American podcasting star Joe Rogan apologized on Saturday for racist remarks, while dozens of his episodes were removed by Spotify, according to the New York Times.
Posted at 3:56 p.m.
In a video posted to Instagram, he offered his “humble and sincere apology” for “the thing that I have the most shame and regret about speaking in public. »
His use of the ‘nigger’ slur on his shows for the past 12 years, most recently compiled by a recent video, now looks “awful, even to me”, he acknowledged.
He also said he deleted an episode of his podcast where he compared his presence in a black neighborhood to the film. Planet of the Apes.
With his show The Joe Rogan experience, broadcast exclusively on Spotify since 2020 for 100 million dollars, Joe Rogan has for a few days been targeted by criticism from personalities who consider him dangerous by leaving the field open to disinformation on COVID-19.
Folk-rock legend Neil Young called on the streaming platform to remove his music in late January, sparking a wider movement and debate over Spotify’s responsibility in the fight against misinformation.
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines – potentially causing the death of those who believe the misinformation they are spreading,” the singer wrote.
According to New York Times on Saturday, Spotify quietly deleted 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan experience the last days. The streaming giant, based in Sweden, did not respond to requests from AFP.
On Thursday, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek defended before his employees the exclusivity agreement concluded with Joe Rogan, according to him crucial for his service of streaming, while emphasizing that he disagreed with the latter on “many things”.
Regarding his apologies, Joe Rogan assured on Instagram that he had “never been racist”.
“There is not a single context in which a white person can afford” to utter this insult, he explained.
“I can’t go back and change what I said… But I really hope this taught a lot of people what an insult that word is, coming from a white man’s mouth,” added this figure of anti-“political correctness” in the United States.