In the almost six-minute clip, Joe Rogan said he hopes his apology is a "teachable moment."
Joe Rogan went to social media to apologize for using the N-word repeatedly in a now-viral clip.
"There's been a lot of s—t from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn't said or had said differently," he captioned his video.
He went on to say that this was "the most regretful and shameful thing I've ever had to talk about publicly."
He said the compilation of him saying the word was made up of clips taken out of context from 12 years of conversations on his podcast. "It's all smushed together, and it looks f—king horrible, even to me," he said.
Rogan claimed that he hasn't said the word in years and said when he did use it, it was in conversations where he thought that "as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing."
"Now I know that to most people, there's no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word nevermind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that," he stated.
He went on to clarify what he was discussing when the word came out, including how Redd Foxx said the word on television in the '70s, how Richard Pryor used it as one of the titles of one of his albums, or how Quentin Tarantino used it repeatedly in "Pulp Fiction."
He also shared that a Netflix executive once used it trying to compare it to another offensive word he said out loud and was later fired.
Later in the almost six-minute clip, Rogan noted that there is no other word like it in the English language because only one group of people is allowed to use it.
"They can use in so many different ways," he said. "Like have a white person says that word, and It's racist and toxic. But a Black person can use it, and it can be a punchline. It could be a term of endearment. It could be lyrics to a rap song. It could be a positive affirmation."
"It's a very unusual word, but it's not my word to use," he said.
Rogan continued and said that he is not racist, but noted the irony in how that statement can often make things worse.
"Whenever you're in a situation where you have to say, 'I'm not racist,' you f—ked up. And I clearly have f—ked up."
The podcaster also addressed an eleven-year-old clip where he told a story about getting high and getting a ride to go to see "Planet of the Apes" in Philadelphia.
"And we didn't know where we're going," he said. "We just got dropped off by a cab, and we got dropped off in this all-Black neighborhood. And I was trying to make the story entertaining. And I said we got out, and it was like we were in Africa. Like we were in 'Planet of the Apes.'"
Rogan said he realizes and understands how bad it sounds and admitted that it was a racist thing to say.
"'The Planet of the Apes" wasn't even in Africa. I was just saying there's a lot of Black people there. But then I went on to talk about what a positive experience it was and how much fun it was to go to see this movie in a Black neighborhood. It wasn't a racist story, but it sounded terrible."
"It's a f—king idiotic thing to say," he added. "And I was just trying to be entertaining. I certainly wasn't trying to be racist, and I certainly would never want to offend someone for entertainment with something as stupid as racism."
Joe Rogan repeatedly apologized in the clip and said he hopes that this could be a teachable moment.
"For anybody that doesn't realize how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person's mouth, in context or out of context. My sincere and humble apologies."
"All of this," he lasted shared, "is just me talking from the bottom of my heart. It makes me sick watching that video. But hopefully, at least some of you will accept this and understand where I'm coming from."
This comes after several artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, have taken their music off Spotify to protest Joe Rogan's podcast and the spreading misinformation related to COVID-19.
