Joe Rogan admitted that he even agreed that he looked “racist as f–k” in the viral video that emerged of him repeatedly saying the N-word.
The comedian addressed his previous use of the racial slur when he returned to the stand-up stage Tuesday night in his hometown of Austin, Texas, the Hollywood Reporter said.
“Somebody made a compilation of every time I said that word over 14 years and they put it on YouTube, and it turned out that was racist as f–k. Even to me!” he told the crowd at the Vulcan Gas Company club.
“I’m me and I’m watching it saying, ‘Stop saying it!’ I put my cursor over the video and I’m like, ‘Four more minutes?!’” he joked of the compilation he earlier called “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”
He claimed the racial slurs were only ever “in context” and that he hasn’t “used that word in years.”
Still, he joked, “It’s kind of weird people will get really mad if you use that word and tweet about it on a phone that’s made by slaves.”
The comedian also addressed the mushrooming controversies over his Spotify podcast, which has prompted artists who have accused him of spreading misinformation to pull their music from the platfrom, the Hollywood Reporter said.
“I talk s–t for a living — that’s why this is so baffling to me,” he told the crowd.
“If you’re taking vaccine advice from me, is that really my fault?” he said of the accusations he was spreading COVID misinformation.
“What dumb s–t were you about to do when my stupid idea sounded better? ‘You know that dude who made people eat animal d–ks on TV? How does he feel about medicine?’” he quipped.
“If you want my advice, don’t take my advice,” he joked, according to the trade mag.
During a Q&A section, Rogan said he had no plans to take up Rumble’s $100 million offer to jump ship — saying he planned to stay where he is because “Spotify has hung in with me, inexplicably.”
The streaming service’s CEO, Daniel Ek, has repeatedly refused to follow calls to cancel the most-listened-to podcast, recently saying that “canceling voices is a slippery slope.”
