Joe Rogan says he’s a victim of ‘political hit job’ after racial slur backlash

Podcast host Joe Rogan has said it is a “relief” that previous racially insensitive comments have been unearthed, but claimed he was a victim as the controversy surrounding him is a “political hit job”.

Rogan hosts a Spotify-exclusive podcast, and came under fire when he appeared to disseminate anti-vax misinformation on his show ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’.

More recently, the comedian was forced to apologise after comments were uncovered from an old episode, where Rogan used a racial slur multiple times.

Despite this, Spotify boss Daniel Ek has appeared to stand-by the podcast host, reportedly telling his staff that he doesn’t believe “silencing Joe is the answer.”

Rogan had issued a public apology for the comments, and he addressed the topic again on the most recent episode (February 8) of his podcast.

“In a lot of ways, all of this is a relief, because that video has always been out there,” he began, before suggesting he had been deliberately targeted by a smear campaign.

“This is a political hit job, so they’re taking all this stuff that I’ve ever said wrong and smushing it all together.

“But it’s good because it makes me address some s**t that I really wish wasn’t out there."

The host’s guest, American comedian Akaash Singh, praised Joe for apologising for his comments in the past, claiming that such a move had been an uncommon choice for comedians in the past.

“You should apologise if you regret something,” Rogan agreed. “This idea that you should never apologise… like if you regret something, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with apologising.

But, Rogan qualified himself, noting: “I do think you have to be very careful to not apologise for nonsense.”

In his earlier apology video, Rogan referred to his use of the racial slur saying: “I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist.

“But whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say, ‘I’m not racist’, you’ve f***ed up. And I’ve clearly f***ed up.”

This comes after right-wing platform Rumble’s CEO Chris Pavolvski released an open invitation, offering Rogan $100million to switch platforms from Spotify with his podcast.

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