Actor Samuel L. Jackson is having none of Joe Rogan's flimsy explanations for his repeated use of the n-word on his podcast.
Rogan, who has drawn a large amount of negative attention over the past few months due to his use of his platform to spread anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, has been using the word rather liberally over the course of his podcast. A compilation video of him fully saying the word is available on YouTube.
Though Rogan says he is done using the word, people, including Jackson, are not so quick to move on from past transgressions.
Jackson said of Rogan's use of the word:
“He is saying nobody understood the context when he said it.”
“But he shouldn’t have said it."
"It’s not the context, dude — it’s that he was comfortable doing it."
"Say that you’re sorry because you want to keep your money, but you were having fun and you say you did it because it was entertaining.”
Jackson is not under any delusion that there is appropriate context to say the n-word, however; he just thinks Joe Rogan's podcast isn't it.
But on Django Unchained, a movie about slavery in the racist 19th century Southern USA, Leonardo DiCaprio was forced to say the word a number of times. When he expressed reservations about the script, Jackson told him he "[had] to" say it to tell the story correctly.
Ultimately DiCaprio chose to say the word because Jackson and Jamie Foxx forced him, with Foxx explaining to the actor that it was a function of his job.
In response to Rogan's spread of misinformation, several artists, including Joni Mitchell and Neil Diamond, have pulled their discographies from Spotify.
The podcast remains on the air.
