[imagesource: The Wrap]

Sometimes, you just have to hold your hands up and say sorry.

Joe Rogan has done that, in the wake of the n-word compilation video going viral.

The host of The Joe Rogan Experience, which Spotify paid a rumoured $100 million fee to be granted exclusive rights, offered his “sincere and humble apologies” in a video he posted to Instagram on Sunday.

He did claim that many of the clips were taken out of context, but it’s kinda tough to see how commenting that ‘going into a black neighbourhood is like going to the Planet of the Apes‘ can be construed as anything other than racist.

Rogan said he wasn’t trying to be racist, just entertaining, and called his words “idiotic”.

Spotify has thus far resisted pressure to drop Rogan from its platform, with CEO Daniel Ek stating that while he “strongly condemns” Rogan’s words, he doesn’t believe “silencing Joe is the answer”.

The man himself doesn’t seem put out by the fuss:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan)

Trevor Noah has certainly had a change of heart regarding Rogan over the past two weeks. He first criticised the podcaster for his commentary on what it means to be “black”, before calling Rogan’s initial apology to accusations of spreading COVID-19 “refreshing”.

That was before the viral n-word clip did the rounds and Trevor appears to have lost all patience.

I should point out at this point that if you don’t care about what Trevor Noah has to say on the matter, don’t watch the video.

In fact, I would say the headline should probably have steered you clear of reading this in the first place.

Anyway, a brief summary of some of Trevor’s talking points via The Daily Beast before we forge ahead:

“First of all, he said he would never say that Black people are apes, but he said that! That’s literally what he said!” Noah shot back.

“It’s not just racist. That’s O.G. racism. That’s the original, old-school racism. That’s on the Mount Rushmore of racism. ‘Black people are apes’ is right next to burning crosses and every Bugs Bunny cartoon from the 1940s.”

Noah also pointed out that yes, jokes are jokes, but jokes can also be racist:

“In fact, a joke can be racist and funny if you’re telling it to the right crowd. Someone can find it funny, but the laughs don’t mean that there’s no racism.”

As proof, he pointed to something Joe Rogan said about his own Planet of the Apes “joke,” just moments after he made it. “That was a racist thing for me to say,” he admitted at the time.

Trevor finished by suggesting that Rogan steers clear of cinemas in black neighbourhoods for a while.

Probably best for all involved:

[source:dailybeast]