WASHINGTON — Joe Rogan issued an apology Saturday morning after a compilation video was posted online showing the podcast host using racial slurs on several occasions during episodes of his show.
Earlier in the week, singer-songwriter India Arie asked to have her work removed from Spotify because of Rogan's "language around race."
On Friday, Arie further explained her decision and posted a clip on her Instagram Story which included Rogan saying the N-word around two dozen times on his podcast, according to Entertainment Weekly.
"He shouldn't even be uttering the word. Don't even say it, under any context. Don't say it. That's where I stand. I have always stood there," Arie said in her video.
Rogan posted a response Saturday morning on Instagram, saying it was "the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.” He claimed that he hadn't used the racial slur in years.
With growing criticism around Rogan, Spotify has also pulled 70 more episodes of the popular podcaster's show from the platform.
The recently removed episodes were recorded before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Variety. The controversy over COVID misinformation on Rogan's show ramped up last month when musician Neil Young called out the streaming service’s top podcaster for amplifying vaccine skepticism. Young requested to have his music removed from Spotify after the company declined to get rid of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren also joined Young's protest against Spotify for the COVID-19 misinformation.
It's unclear whether the episodes Spotify removed Friday included Rogan saying the racial slur or if they were pulled for a different reason. According to Variety, when Spotify added Rogan's show in Sept. 2020 as part of a $100 million deal, it did not bring over 43 of his past episodes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.