Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has responded to social media users who criticized the actor after he seemingly praised Joe Rogan’s Instagram video from last week, in which the “Joe Rogan Experience” host addressed recent boycotts to Spotify over his podcast.
Johnson tweeted he’d had a “learning moment” in response to author Don Winslow questioning the actor’s support for the controversial host, whom medical professionals have said promotes COVID-19 misinformation on his podcast.
“Dear @TheRock, You’re a hero to many people and using your platform to defend Joe Rogan, a guy that used and laughed about using the N word dozens of times, is a terrible use of your power. Have you actually listened to this man’s many racist statements about Black people?” Winslow wrote on Twitter on Friday.
In his response, Johnson acknowledged Winslow’s words, and those of others who criticized the big screen star after he wrote, “Great stuff here, brother. Perfectly articulated” in the comments section of Rogan’s Instagram post last week.
“Dear @donwinslow Thank you so much for this,” Johnson tweeted in response. “I hear you as well as everyone here 100%. 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. Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend. DJ.”
Last week, Indie Arie became the latest in a growing list of artists asking Spotify to remove their music and podcasts due to Rogan’s comments on his own show. Arie, however, centered her music removal around Rogan’s language, including Rogan’s use of the N-word.
“I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify. Neil Young opened a door that I MUST walk through. I believe in freedom of speech. However I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons OTHER than his COVID interviews…,” she wrote on Instagram. “FOR ME IT IS ALSO HIS language around race. What I am talking about is RESPET — who gets it and who doesn’t. Paying musicians a fraction of a penny and HIM $100M? This shows the type of company they are and the company that they keep. I’m tired.”
Over the weekend, Rogan shared a statement and apology after clips of the podcast host saying the N-word 24 times surfaced online and were boosted by Arie, who used them to explain why she was pulling her music from Spotify.
“I know 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,” Rogan said in a video posted to Instagram on Saturday. “I haven’t said it in years. But for a long time, when I would bring that word up – like if it would come up in conversation, instead of saying ‘the N-word’ I would just say the word. I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing.”
As Rogan continued, he said he never used the word “to be racist.”
“It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use,” Rogan said. “I’m well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner. 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 f—ed up. And I clearly have f—ed up. And that’s my intention to express myself in this video, to say there’s nothing I can do to take that back. I wish I could; obviously, that’s not possible. I do hope that, if anything, this can be a teachable moment.”