Dozens of episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast were quietly pulled from Spotify amid controversy over COVID-19 misinformation and past racial slurs used by the podcaster.
More than 70 episodes were taken off the platform with no acknowledgement from Rogan or Spotify on the matter, CNET reported.
All the episodes that were removed were from years ago as Rogan has had his podcast for more than a decade.
Rogan recently released an almost five-minute video addressing resurfaced, years-old videos of podcast episodes where he used racial slurs and a comment about the “Planet of the Apes” movie.
Rogan said a compilation video was made of him saying racial slurs that he is deeply remorseful about. He said he never used the word to offend anyone and previously thought if it was used in context when talking about an issue it was OK.
“There’s nothing I can do to take that back. I wish I could. Obviously, that’s not possible,” Rogan stated. “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.”
“I never used it to be racist because I’m not racist,” Rogan said, adding he “hasn’t said that word in years” and learned it “is not my word to use.”
He addressed another clip in which he told a story on his podcast about him being dropped off in a Black neighborhood and comparing the area to the “Planet of the Apes” movie.
“I did not nor would I ever say that Black people are apes but it sure f—ing sounded like that,” Rogan said.
The videos from the old podcast episodes resurfaced after some artists began boycotting Rogan for having anti-COVID-19 vaccine individuals on his podcast.
The Hill has reached out to Spotify for comment.