Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Has Learning Moment After Speaking on Joe Rogan Controversy

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has had a change of heart regarding his defense of Joe Rogan amid his ongoing controversy with Neil Young and several other music artists, and Spotify. After New York Times bestselling author Don Winslow questioned the actor for his support of Rogan’s practices, the Jungle Cruise star says he’ll do more research into a person’s career before throwing his support in the future, calling the incident a “learning moment.”

“You’re a hero to many people and using your platform to defend Joe Rogan, a guy that used and laughed about using the N-word dozens of times, is a terrible use of your power,” Winslow tweeted at Johnson. “Have you actually listened to this man’s many racist statements about Black people?”

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“Thank you so much for this I hear you as well as everyone here 100% I was not aware of his N-word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative. Learning moment for me. Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend,” Johnson said in response. 

Rogan first came under fire after musician Neil Young launched a campaign against him and Spotify for his alleged spread of COVID-19 “misinformation” with his Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The singer threatened to remove his songs from the streaming service, at which point Spotify sided with Rogan and removed the “Harvest Moon” singer’s discography from the platform. Along with Young, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, David Crosby, and Stephen Stills also promised to take their songs off of the streaming service in support of the movement. Following the week’s events, a separate conversation emerged scrutinizing the podcast host for his use of the N-word. Singer India Arie removed her music from Spotify as part of a crusade against Rogan for his previous use of the N-word in various moments. 

Rogan responded to the original controversy in an Instagram video where he explained himself as someone simply looking to have conversations with people who have different opinions on a variety of topics. Johnson showed his support in the comments section of Rogan’s video. “Great stuff here brother,” Johnson wrote. “Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you.”