09 Feb Why Are Some Black People – Including India Arie – Now Defending & Caping For Joe Rogan Even The Slightest Bit?

As controversy continues over Joe Rogan’s excessive use of the n-word, India Arie and several others are coming to his defense. Yes, India Arie is seemingly caping for Joe Rogan after announcing she’s removing all of her music from Spotify because of Rogan’s rhetoric. More inside…

Last week, India Arie announced she wanted her music YANKED from Spotify following in the footsteps of rock legend Neil Young and Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who also requested to have their music removed due to Joe Rogan’s controversial comments (about race and COVID-19 misinformation) on his podcast.

Soon after, the “I Am Not My Hair” singer shared a compilation video of Joe Rogan excessively using the n-word during episodes of his Spotify podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Not only that, he also made a racist “Planet of the Apes” joke in reference to black people.

In the clip, Rogan said the n-word more than 20 times in short clips from several different podcast episodes, which he said were compiled over a 12-year span.

The soulful songstress shared the clip on her IG Stories (which is still in her highlights) where she emphasized that she doesn’t want to make money for a brand that pays a podcaster MILLIONS to disrespect her people and culture. She said she believes “that Joe Rogan has the right to say whatever he wants to say,” but that she also has the right to say what she wants.

After the clip went viral, Rogan issued an apology.

Now, India Arie is seemingly backtracking. At least when it comes to flat ou calling him a racist.

She said she doesn’t think Joe Rogan is “racist,” but rather “insensitive” for using the word in the past.

“I don’t think Joe Rogan is racist for using [the N-word],” India Arie said Monday on CNN’s “Don Lemon Tonight.”

“I think he’s insensitive for using it, so just don’t,” she said.

In response to his public apology, India said he did a good job.

”I have to say, I did think he did a fine job with his apology,” she continued. “He said a lot of the things I would want to hear someone say, The thing that stuck out for me most was when he said, ‘It’s not my word to use.’ And I think changed behavior is what we’re really looking for.”

Watch the clip below:

Grammy award-wining singer India Arie is removing her music from Spotify after highlighting Joe Rogan’s repeated use of racist language.

BUT Arie says she’s not looking to cancel Rogan.
@donlemon speaks with @indiaarie. Watch: pic.twitter.com/Ez0qlcQfpe

— Don Lemon Tonight (@DonLemonTonight) February 8, 2022

So does that mean India Arie will continue to fight to have her music removed from Spotify? It’s unclear.

You can see more of her addressing the drama below:

Commenters – many who are surprisingly black – have been filling up IG with “You guts are taking Joe out of context” b.s. Celebs too.

Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince came to Rogan’s defense, claiming he’s “not a racist.”

“Joe Rogan is not a racist,” he wrote. “I know this brother. It takes a sincere individual to admit when they are wrong and have fucked up about a situation. As you can hear he’s done that and I forgive him because I never want to become one of those people that are filled with un-forgiveness and hate, that we complain about all the time.”

“Let this be an example to others of the sensitivity of the word ‘n-gga’ being said by anybody other than a n-gga lol.”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came to Rogan’s defense at first, but then seemingly walked back on his defense.

“Great stuff here brother,” The Rock wrote on IG when the controversy first started. “Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you.” He also included a liquor glass emoji.

A few days later, the Hollywood actor revealed he wasn’t aware of Rogan’s use of the n-word.

Dear @donwinslow
Thank you so much for this
I hear you as well as everyone here 100%
I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative.
Learning moment for me.

Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend.
DJ https://t.co/3mBf85wRoe

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) February 5, 2022

“I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative. Learning moment for me,” he said.

Andrew Yang – former Presidential candidate – came to Rogan’s defense amid the drama, encouraging fans to delete the app:

He then deleted his apologist B.S. and wrote another apology that was worse.

Trump also shared his two cents, saying Joe Rogan should ‘stop apologizing’ amid podcast controversy.

On the flip side, stars like Paula Patton and Trevor Noah aren’t here for Rogan’s rhetoric, period:

”I woke up yesterday morning and read this article,” Paula Patton wrote on her IG. “It said that Joe Rogan used racial slurs but didn’t say anything else. So I went online to dig deeper to find out what exactly he had said. What I discovered was shocking and disturbing. Joe Rogan spoke the N word an obscene amount of times. He said when going to a Black neighborhood to watch Planet of the Apes that he felt that he had walked into Planet of the Apes. He called Black people apes.

”When speaking to a guest who had a Black father and a white mother he said, “Powerful combination genetic wise. Right. You get the body of the Black man and the mind of the white man in some strange combination.” “Black people have a different brain.” This is blatant, regressive, racist rhetoric. It is dangerous. When you wonder why there is so much violence used on Black people, one reason is because some people consciously or unconsciously think that a Black person is animal-like and less than them and believing that makes it much easier to kill and incarcerate them.

”We a have horrible problem in this country of Black people being killed by the police. For me, we can’t just let something like this occur and not talk about how this effects the lives of our people and I say “our people” not only because I am Black but because even if you are not Black you should think and say “our people”. We are all one. We are all connected as human beings. We are family and we can’t allow words like this, words that separate us to occur and if it does we need to take a stand. I can no longer in good conscious listen to Spotify. I have loved Spotify, discovered many new artists through it and used it daily but I cannot give them money monthly to support a person like this. Standing by Joe Rogan is unacceptable. I deleted and canceled Spotify yesterday. I encourage all of you that have it to do the same. This is one small way I believe we can make change happen. We can forgive but there still needs to be consequences or nothing ever really changes. #deletespotify”

”The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah also addressed Rogan’s “OG racism.”

”That video’s so bad it actually made me miss the ‘N-word’ video,” he said during Monday’s episode. “And it’s not just racist. Let’s be honest, that’s like O.G. racism. That’s like the original old school. That’s on the Mount Rushmore of racism. Black people are apes. It’s right next to burning crosses and every Bugs Bunny cartoon from the 1940s.”

Peep the clip above.

Thoughts?

Photos: S Buckley/Shutterstock

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