Charlamagne tha God weighs in on Joe Rogan’s N-word controversy, calling out hypocrites.
In February 2022, a compilation of Rogan saying the N-Word on The Joe Rogan Experience resurfaced and went viral on social media.
Rogan apologized, calling his language “regretful and shameful” while denying being racist. He argued that he used the slur when quoting others.
The viral clip in question was deceptively edited to remove proper context.
A clip of the Joe Rogan Experience host also making a racist joke comparing a black neighborhood to Plant of the Apes was also released.
After making the offensive joke, he backtracked, but that was not included in the distributed clip.
Charlamagne defends Joe Rogan against racism accusations
On an episode of the Brilliant Idiots podcast, Charlamagne references one of India Arie’s earlier statements, stating that he agreed with her assessment of Rogan.
“I actually really like what India Arie said,” he said. “Number one, she said she doesn’t think Joe Rogan is racist, she just thought it was insensitive.”
The Breakfast Club co-host gave his take on censorship, calling out hypocrites who are criticizing Rogan.
“If you’re a radio personality, a podcaster, rapper, comedian, artist in general– anybody that does this for living– if you open your mouth, and words come out for a living, you can’t be for censorship. And if you are from a certain era, there is no way in hell you can look at Joe Rogan and be like, that’s f****d up. That’s what’s killing me about all of this, the lack of self-awareness that some people have, the hypocrisy,” he said.
Charlamagne continued, “I don’t think there’s ever room for a white person to use the n-word.”
“The Planet of the Apes was the worst to one me, but by the way, that was twelve years ago. We’ve all made f****d up terrible jokes. And I listen to Joe Rogan, I don’t know him personally like you do [referring to Brilliant Idiots co-host, Andrew Schulz] I’ve met him twice, but I’ve been listening to him for over a decade,” continues:
The one thing I’ve always liked about Joe is his self-awareness. If you go back and watch the Planet of the Apes thing, even in that commentary, he literally goes, ‘oh my bad, that’s f****d up. That was racist.'”
Charlamagne also discussed Joe Rogan on The Breakfast Club, making similar comments defending the JRE host.
India Arie backtracks, calls Joe Rogan racist
Grammy-winning singer India Arie has backtracked her remarks about the JRE host during an interview with CNN.
On the CNN show Don Lemon Tonight, she said she believed Rogan was insensitive rather than racist; however, the singer had reflected on those comments when she visited Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show.
Arie now says that Joe Rogan was “being consciously racist” with his repeated use of racial slurs.
During the chat with Noah, Arie said Rogan consciously used the word to get “a rise out of people,” and he “knew it was inappropriate.”
She went on to explain why she backtracked on her opinion of Rogan, explaining that it was her instinct to believe “he tried.”
However, she added that his on-air use of the word made her wonder “what he talks like behind closed doors.”