Freddie Gibbs and comedian Brian Moses were guests on a new episode of the Joe Rogan Experience that got published on March 1. (It was their second appearance on the podcast, having made their debut in February 2021.) At the start of the new episode, the three men discussed the recent controversies surrounding Joe Rogan. “You can’t say that shit, Joe, because you pissed n****s off when you did that compilation,” Gibbs said, referring to the video that documented Rogan’s repeated use of the N-word on episodes of his podcast. “It was funny as fuck, though, I can’t even lie.”
Gibbs continued by telling Rogan, “I don’t think you’re a racist…. I never thought you was a racist.” (Rogan interjected, “I’m definitely not.”) Gibbs went on to say, “I just think you just saying some shit you shouldn’t have said and a lot of us n****s say some stuff that we shouldn’t say sometimes. It is what it.” Rogan replied to Gibbs, “Well, that’s the only word that you can’t say no matter what.”
Rogan, Gibbs, and Moses continued to discuss the N-word and other slurs, with Moses eventually joking, “Bro, Spotify is not airing this episode.” Rogan exclaimed, “They have to!” And Gibbs said, “They got to. Hey, fuck Neil Young, man. Let me say something about Neil Young. Ay, Neil Young, man, I know you wanted to get Joe off this motherfucker, right, but, look, though, my n***a, pull your shit off, but would you have pulled it if it was only the n***a shit? If you thought Joe was a racist? Would you have stood up for n****s? I think not.”
Gibbs continued, “The only thing I was mad at you for, Joe, man, you fucked up with India.Arie, man,” referring to the R&B singer’s choice to pull her music from Spotify. “Shout out to India.Arie, please put your music back up, we love you, baby girl.”
In late January, Neil Young asked for his music to get removed from Spotify in protest of Joe Rogan and his podcast, accusing the streaming platform of “spreading fake information about vaccines—potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.” His music was swiftly taken off the platform, and other artists followed suit in requesting their respective catalogs’ removals from Spotify.
Spotify and CEO Daniel Ek have stuck by Joe Rogan, keeping his podcast on Spotify, but Ek did condemn Rogan’s use of racist slurs.
