Andrew Yang deletes Joe Rogan not ‘racist’ tweet

Businessman and aspiring politician Andrew Yang deleted a tweet defending embattled podcast host Joe Rogan and called his own sentiments “wrong-headed.”

“I deleted the tweet because it was wrong-headed. It also hurt people, which is never my intent. I’m sorry,” tweeted Yang. “I’m learning and appreciate those who reached out to express their feelings.”

Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang


Andrew Yang (Luiz C. Ribeiro/)

Rogan drew condemnation Saturday after video of him repeatedly using the N-word in various broadcasts went viral. While Rogan insists that the collection of old clips lacks context — and that he was not using that word to denigrate anyone — he also said his latest controversy is one he’s ashamed of and regrets.

Joe Rogan addresses his ‘shameful’ use of the N-word after viral video

Yang, who appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Spotify in 2019, rushed to Rogan’s defense Sunday.

“I don’t think Joe Rogan is a racist,” Yang, who ran for president in 2020 and mayor of New York City in 2021, tweeted. “The man interacts with and works with black people literally all of the time.”

Twitter users then lashed out at Yang, arguing that working with Black people doesn’t exempt anyone from bigotry. According to NBC News, Yang added in his now-deleted tweet that he knows Black friends of Rogan’s who would defend the 54-year-old Newark, N.J., native. But early Monday morning, Yang confessed he missed the larger point.

“Racism is real, deep, corrosive and even lethal. I know that,” he added in his apology. “I made a mistake in an earlier tweet tonight that downplayed these realities.”

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Also on Monday, Yang tweeted “I think we should have the capacity to forgive people — whether a podcaster or a mayor — if they mess up.”

His reasoning?

“Maybe it’s because I mess up too,” he wrote.

Prior to being accused of racism, Rogan was blamed in recent weeks for artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell leaving the streaming platform Spotify on account of COVID disinformation spread on his show, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Movie star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came to Rogan’s defense last week after the podcast giant explained that while he tries to get things right on his heavily listened to program, he sometimes comes up short. But after author Don Winslow alerted Johnson to Rogan’s latest controversy, the “Walking Tall” star claimed he was unaware of that development.

“I was not aware of his N-word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative,” Johnson tweeted. “Learning moment for me.”

In his video apology, which was posted to Instagram, Rogan called racism “stupid” and insisted he would never use that kind of ideology as a way of entertaining listeners. But he also acknowledged he was in the wrong.

“Whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say, I’m not racist, you f--ked up, and I clearly have f--ked up,” Rogan said.

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