Dwayne Johnson Ditches Joe Rogan Support After Controversial Clips Resurface

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has walked back his previous support for Joe Rogan, after old clips of the controversial podcaster using racial slurs were brought to his attention.

Rogan is currently at the centre of a fierce debate in regards to the continued existence of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on Spotify. Critics argue that the podcast shouldn't be promoted via the streaming services as it frequently promotes COVID-19 misinformation, and often goes so far as to tell young people not to take the vaccine.

A number of artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, have ended up removing their own music from Spotify in protest. This followed the publication of an open letter signed by 270 healthcare professionals, which condemned Spotify's policy on misinformation.

In response, Rogan issued an apology video on Instagram and promised that he would "try harder" going forward. The apology won a lot of support from celebrities, most notably Johnson.

"Great stuff here, brother. Perfectly articulated," Johnson wrote in the comments of the video, before adding that he looked forward to one day appearing on Rogan's show and "breaking out the tequila".

Rogan's critics were deeply disappointed to see Johnson come out in support of him, with many pointing out Rogan's problematic past is hardly limited to vaccine misinformation.

In a response shared on Twitter, Johnson now appears to have gone back on his praise for the outspoken podcaster. When crime author Don Winslow asked the actor if he was aware of Rogan's previously liberal use of racial slurs, Johnson claimed he had no idea. He thanked Winslow for pointing out Rogan's "complete narrative", and stressed it was a "learning moment" for him.

You can see the full exchange below:

This comes in the wake of a new video from Rogan, in which the podcaster acknowledges and apologises for his use of racial slurs in the past. Clips of Rogan using the N-word in casual conversation quickly blew up online after being shared by musician Indie Arie, who is also pulling her music from Spotify in protest.

While Spotify maintains it has no plans to pull Rogan from the platform altogether, it has removed nearly 100 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience from its library.