Andrew Yang (D), the former Democrat presidential candidate, deleted a tweet over the weekend in which he stated that Joe Rogan, who has been under fire following an ongoing censorship fight with Spotify and subsequent surfacing a video compilation showing him using N-words on his podcast — was “not racist.” He deemed his original defense of Rogan’s “wrongheaded” and “hurtful.”
After far-leftists accused him, the famed podcaster is now under censorship by Spotify. He was also accused of spreading misinformation about the Chinese coronavirus via his podcast.
Rogan stated that the video was made from clips taken out of context of me 12 years of conversations on my podcast. “It looks fucking terrible, even to me” Rogan spoke of India Arie’s clip, which she posted after following Neil Young’s lead and having her music removed from Spotify.
Rogan said, “I know that most people don’t believe that a white person can ever use that word in any context, let alone publicly on a podcast,” adding that he hadn’t used it “in years.”
“But for a long while, instead of using the N-word to refer to that word, I would simply say the word. He said that if it was explained in context, people would be able to understand what I was doing.”
Andrew Yang was among the first to defend Rogan.
Yang tweeted, “I don’t think Joe Rogan’s a racist – the man interacts and works with blacks literally all the time.” Yang added, “Do you know black friends who would swear for him?” Yes.
Yang explained why the tweet was deleted just after midnight Monday.
“I believe in the best of people, especially if they are someone I have met and enjoyed time with. Sometimes, it causes me to miss something. It is important that we have the ability to forgive others, no matter if they are a mayor or a podcaster. Perhaps it’s because I make mistakes too,” he said, adding that racism is “real and deep and corrosive, even lethal.”
“I know that. He said that he made a mistake in a tweet earlier tonight that downplayed these realities. He explained that he had deleted the tweet because it was “wrong-headed.”
It also caused pain to people, which was never my intention. I’m sorry. I am sorry.
Rogan apologized and said that he had never used the N-word to refer to racism “because I’m not racist”.
“But when you find yourself in a position where you have to declare, ‘I am not racist,’ it’s a sign that you are fucked up. Rogan said that Rogan clearly had fucked up.
