NEW YORK — Spotify’s popular U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan has apologized after a video compilation surfaced that showed him using a racial slur in clips of episodes over a 12-year span.
In a video posted on his Instagram account on Saturday, Rogan who hosts a podcast called “The Joe Rogan Experience,” said his use of the slur was the “most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”
But he said the clips were "taken out of context.”
Rogan’s mea culpa comes after Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter India.Arie announced Thursday that she was pulling her music from Spotify, referencing Rogan’s racial slurs. She posted the video montage of Rogan’s clips on Instagram.
He also addressed a video a clip from his podcast that saw him telling a story about going to a movie theater in an "all-Black neighborhood" to see the movie “Planet of the Apes."
“I was trying to make the story entertaining, and I said we got out and it was like we were in Africa. It’s like we were in ‘Planet of the Apes.'," Rogan said, adding that he wasn't trying to be racist but realized it was “an idiotic thing" to say.
Saturday's address was not the first of Rogan's explanations for recent criticisms. Just last week the podcaster apologized to Spotify for “taking so much heat” after Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from the app, citing Rogan's podcast and COVID-19 misinformation as the reason.
RELATED:Joe Rogan addresses Spotify, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell after criticism of COVID-19 misinformation
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