Photo: Joe Rogan on April 10, 2013 in New York City, RW/MediaPunch /IPX
Popular podcaster Joe Rogan of “The Joe Rogan Experience” is no stranger to making controversial comments. His latest involves deciding who’s Black, who’s white, and who’s brown.
During a recent podcast interview with equally controversial conservative commentator Jordan Peterson, Rogan mentioned author and academic Michael Eric Dyson, which led into a discussion about race.
Dyson once referred to Peterson as a “mean, angry white man” in 2018, Complex reported.
“Depending on who you ask, either you’re a voice of reason and rationality and personal responsibility, or a voice of intolerance and bigotry and anger and hateful. … What did Michael Eric Dyson call you? A mean, angry white man?” Rogan asked Peterson. “Hilarious. You’re not mean at all. That’s what’s dumb about that statement.”
Peterson replied to Rogan that it was “a lie” to call him white. Instead, he insisted that he is “kind of tan” and that Dyson “is actually not Black.”
Dyson is “brown, not Black,” Peterson said.
Rogan replied, “Unless you are talking to someone who is like 100% African from the darkest place where they’re not wearing any clothes all day, and they’ve developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun. Even the term Black is weird, and when you use it for people that are literally my color, it becomes very strange.”
With these latest remarks from Rogan, some are wondering if he will get to keep his massive deal with Spotify.
Rogan, who first gained fame as the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s colorful commentator, launched the Joe Rogan Experience in 2009. In May 2020, Rogan signed a licensing deal with Swedish audio streaming giant Spotify worth more than $100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Some on Twitter asked Spotify to comment or vowed to stop listening.
“@Spotify, do these comments align with your mission statement?” asked Ebony Jade Hilton, MD (@EbonyJHilton_MD), co-founder and co-host of the medical consultancy Goodstock.
“Wow, I love new music Friday, but not as much as I hate racism so goodbye @SpotifyUSA@Spotify,” tweeted actress and podcaster Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously).
Many on Twitter were outraged by Rogan’s remarks.
“Yet another reminder that this guy is trash…,” tweeted DesignDiva (@lele_lisa).
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?
Rogan has a history of making racist remarks. One Twitter user posted a montage of Rogan using the “N” word on several occasions.
Spotify has lost business before related to Rogan, who discussed covid vaccines on his podcast and has encouraged people to remain unvaccinated.
Spotify announced today that it was pulling Neil Young’s music at Young’s request. Young was offended by Rogan’s views on covid-19 and the vaccine. He is expected to lose 60 percent of his streaming revenue by pulling his catalog off of Spotify, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Young directed his managers and record label to remove his music from Spotify because he said the music and podcast platform is “spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe this disinformation spread by them,” CNN reported.
A group of 270 doctors and other medical professionals also wrote an open letter in December 2021 calling on Spotify to “mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform” shortly after Rogan featured Dr. Robert Malone, a known vaccine skeptic, on his podcast.
Photo: Joe Rogan on April 10, 2013 in New York City, RW/MediaPunch /IPX
