Joe Rogan apologizes for past use of the N-word, says viral clips are out of context

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan has apologized for his repeated use of the N-word in some episodes of his podcast, which has attracted a lot of attention in the past few weeks.

Rogan apologized in a Saturday Instagram post, and he noted that the clip going viral was taken out of context. 

In the video Rogan shared of himself on Instagram, he called the segment “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly,” and he added that the videos shared by singer India Arie were made up of “out of context” moments from “12 years of conversations” that had taken place on his podcast. “It looks f—— horrible. Even to me,” he said.

“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.”

Rogan continued to explain that he only ever said the word when it “came up in conversation,” noting past instances like discussing how comedians had made use of the word, or how Quentin Tarantino “repeatedly” used the N-word in the movie Pulp Fiction.

“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,” Rogan, 54, added. 

“I’ve 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—– up, and I clearly have f—– up,” he said.

“There’s nothing I can do to take that back. I wish I could, obviously, that’s not possible.” Rogan said he hopes his errors can be a “teachable moment” for other people. “I never thought it would ever be taken out of context and put in a video like that,” he continued.