Joe Rogan has helped boost the careers of many professionals over the years. One of those professionals is former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Once Yang saw the backlash that Joe Rogan is facing in light of past use of slurs he thought he should take action.
Yang, 47, on Sunday defended Joe Rogan Experience host.
“I don’t think Joe Rogan is a racist — the man interacts with and works [with] black people literally all of the time,” Yang tweeted Sunday before deleting it, according to The Hill. “Do I know black friends of Joe’s who would swear by him? Yes I do.”
Yang was a notable guest on the podcast back in 2019. He opted to appear during the upstart campaign for president.
Yang took back his support and deleted the initial tweet. He explained subsequently.
“I like to believe the best of people — especially if I’ve met and spent time with that person,” Yang tweeted early Sunday. “Sometimes it makes me miss something. I think we should have the capacity to forgive people — whether a podcaster or a mayor — if they mess up. Maybe it’s because I mess up too.”
“I deleted the tweet because it was wrong-headed,” Yang continued. “I also hurt people, which is never my intent. I’m sorry. I’m learning and appreciate those who reached out to express their feelings.”
“I like to believe the work I’ve done these past years had the goal of uplifting everyone, particularly those on the outside looking in for any reason, be it poverty or marginalization or race,” Yang tweeted. “I’ve always wanted to help those with the least the most.”
“I’m going to keep doing all I can for a more fair, equitable and just country,” Yang wrote. “That means for everyone. Universal Basic Income, Democracy Reform and unity are how we get there.”
Just a day earlier Yang called for a so called statute of limitations on statements. At that point he wasn’t explicitly referring to Rogan – though it’s more than likely.
Rogan issued a public apology in light of the compilation resurfacing and stated:
“Hello friends. I’m making this video to talk about the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly. There’s a video that’s out, that’s a compilation of me saying the N word. It’s a video that’s made of clips taken out of context of me have 12 years of conversations on my podcast, and it’s all smushed together. And it looks f–king horrible, even to me. 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. Now, I haven’t said it in years. But for a long time, when I would bring that word up, like if it would come up in conversation and stain, 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. ”
You can read his whole statement here.
Meanwhile Spotify CEO condemnd the racist megacompilation:
“Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful, I want to make clear that they do not represent the value of this company. While I strongly condemn what Joe has said, I realize that some will want more,” he said.
“I want to make one point very clear. I do not believe silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope.”