India Arie shares clips of Joe Rogan saying the N-word as she asks Spotify to remove her music over his 'language around race'
Advertisement
Lauren Edmonds
Feb 7, 2022, 00:02 IST
Joe Rogan has addressed his use of the racial slur in an Instagram video.Vivian Zink/Syfy/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
India Arie said she is removing her music and podcast from Spotify.
Arie, 46, shared video clips of Rogan, 54, saying the racial slur on his podcast.
Advertisement
Singer India Arie shared clips of Joe Rogan repeatedly saying the N-word on his Spotify podcast, which she said led to her demands for the streaming service to remove her music.
"I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid interviews," Arie, 46, wrote. "For me, it's also his language around race."
On Thursday, the Grammy Award winner returned to Instagram to further clarify her statement by sharing more than 20 clips of Rogan saying the N-word on his Spotify podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience." One clip appeared to show Rogan comparing Black neighborhoods to "Planet of the Apes."
Arie then said she sympathized with artists leaving the platform over COVID-19 misinformation but focused on his racial remarks. She added that she doesn't want to support a platform that underpays its artists, but paid Rogan a large salary.
"He shouldn't even be uttering the word," Arie said in another Instagram clip. "Don't even say it, under any context. Don't say it. That's where I stand. I have always stood there."
After the clips began to gain traction online, Rogan addressed them in an Instagram video on Saturday.
Rogan called the clips "the most regretful and shameful thing I've ever had to talk about publicly." He said the clips Arie showed were "out of context" and amassed from "12 years of conversations."
A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan)
"It looks fucking 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."
Advertisement
Rogan said he used the N-word when it "came up in conversation" and denied being racist.
Representatives for Arie and Rogan did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
He added, "I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I'm very sorry that this is happening to them and that they're taking so much heat from it."
NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.