Joe Rogan, the N-Word, and What It Means to Be Black

The popular commentator has earned his controversial status.

Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan is embroiled in controversy of his own making.

Rogan, who has been gaining notoriety because of his tendencies to give voice to extreme right-wing personalities like Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones, is making his podcast homebase Spotify extremely uncomfortable, although they are officially supporting him.

That could change in the next few days as the furor over his comments about Black people continue to garner attention.

Where does one start? Well, let’s start with Rogan’s use of the N-Word.

Rogan has made liberal (pun intended) use of the word without abbreviating it. Podcasts where he used the word have been pulled from Spotify. Rogan issued an apology and 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. 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.”

Note to Joe:

IT IS NEVER, EVER, EVER OK TO USE THE N-WORD. THERE IS NO CONTEXT THAT IS EVER APPROPRIATE FOR A WHITE PERSON TO USE THE N-WORD. EVER.

This is embarrassing enough, but evidence of Rogan’s racism and bigotry is ample.

For instance, at the same time Rogan was apologizing for using the N-Word, he also had to apologize for comparing an area that was heavily Black with the Planet of the Apes.

In January, Rogan had Jordan Peterson on his podcast. If you are unfamiliar with Peterson, he is a Canadian professor who holds extreme right-wing views on every subject. He believes that masculinity is under attack, that female and minority studies in academia leads to cult-like behavior, and climate change is a myth because there is no such thing as climate.

Peterson and Rogan got into a discussion a public debate Peterson had with Black activist Michael Eric Dyson. During the debate, Dyson called Peterson “a mean, mad white man.” Here’s sampling of the conversation between Peterson and Rogan:

Rogan - “Hilarious. You’re not mean at all. That’s what’s dumb about that statement. You’re not mean at all.”

Peterson - “I am kind of tan. And he was actually not Black, he was sort of brown.”

Rogan: “If you’re tan then what the f--- am I? Because I’m darker than you. That’s ridiculous.”

Peterson: “Neither of us are white. And he was brown, not Black.”

Rogan capped the conversation with this pronouncement:

“Well, isn’t that weird. The Black and white thing is so strange because the shades are such a spectrum of shades of people. Unless you are talking to someone who is, like, 100 percent African from the darkest place where they are not wearing any clothes all day and they have developed all of that melanin to protect themselves from the sun, even the term Black is weird.”

And:

“When you use it for people who are literally my color, it becomes very strange.”

Note to Joe (and to Peterson):

IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW THIS, LET ME BE THE FIRST TO TELL YOU THAT “WHITE PEOPLE” CREATED RACE AS A SOCIAL/ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONSTRUCT. WE CALL OURSELVES BLACK AND YOU WHITE BECAUSE WHITE PEOPLE CALLED US THAT AND WORSE THINGS FIRST!

Joe Rogan routinely has people like Jordan Peterson, Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes, and like-minded extreme right-wing agitators who views are repugnant to sane, rational people.

If he is “cancelled,” he only has himself to blame.

I will not bemoan his fate.

I will not shed a tear.

I won’t be contemplating whether I’m Black or Brown.

What I will be doing is wondering why the Joe Rogans of the world are given lucrative platforms to spew hatred and ignorance.