Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Calls Backlash Over Joe Rogan Comments A ‘Learning Moment’
The Rock has over 300 million followers on Twitter and Instagram and has been in talks of running for President of the United States at one point. He’s a celebrity who has to be mindful of his speech.
It’s why the Jumanji star found himself backtracking previous statements in support of Spotify podcast host Joe Rogan this past Friday (February 4), who had been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines on his show The Joe Rogan Experience. The controversy led to artists like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and others to take their music down from the streaming platform.
It wasn’t until a video of Rogan excessively using the n-word came to light, however, that the 49-year old Red Notice star admitted he was in the wrong. “Thank you so much for this,” Johnson said in response to author Don Winslow, who brought up the podcaster’s use of the racial slur on Twitter. “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,” he continued.
“I appreciate your reply. Your life and your story have inspired a lot of people and I appreciate your response,” Winslow said in a concluding response.
The Rock also found himself apologizing to another Twitter user, Cheri Jacobus,
who he bumped heads with over criticisms of Rogan. “Hi @CheriJacobus , I owe you a sincere apology,” he began. “I didn’t show up the way I would’ve liked to in our dialogue and my language to you was offensive. I apologize. Thank you and your followers for all the dialogue here. Have a great & productive weekend. DJ,” the movie star ended.
The Rock retracting his support of Joe Rogan is only the latest to come after audio of the popular podcast host using the n-word has come to light. Soul songstress India Arie made a public statement threatening to remove her music from the service for his “language around race" — prompting Spotify to remove about 100 episodes of Rogan’s podcast.
As of right now, Rogan’s podcast has not been canceled.
