Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is being accused of hypocrisy after withdrawing his support for controversial podcaster Joe Rogan just three days after he backed him, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.
Rogan, who signed a deal with Spotify worth more than $100 million in 2020 for his podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," was slammed last week after video surfaced of him using the N-word in past episodes and telling an anecdote in which he appeared to compare being around black people with the film Planet of the Apes.
He has since offered "sincere and humble apologies."
Johnson, who stuck by the podcaster amid a separate controversy about COVID-19 misinformation, on Sunday in response to a tweet criticizing Rogan's use of the N-word, responded: "Dear @donwinslow 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."
But social media users posted clips of an old video of the former wrestler giving a racist impression himself mocking the Chinese language.
"Having watched @TheRock's pro wrestling career from the start, I can promise you that he has said many things himself that would get him canceled today as a sexist & homophobe, which is what makes his 180 on @joerogan even more pathetic & cowardly," Republican strategist Andrew Surabian wrote on Twitter, adding "Just YouTube his old promos."
Another social media user, Tim Pool, shared the footage of Johnson mocking the Chinese language, tweeting sarcastically: "Thank you @TheRock for speaking out against racism."
Conservative columnist Benny Johnson posted an extended version of the footage to reveal that the former wrestler also mocked the Swedish language, captioning the video "Can you smell the hurtful racism @TheRock is cooking?"
Over the past several weeks, critics have mounted a campaign against Rogan, urging that Spotify cancel his popular podcast for spreading misinformation on the coronavirus vaccine, the Daily Mail reported.
Just last week "The Rock" backed Rogan for presenting a range of medical opinions on the issue, commenting to Rogan on Instagram, "Great stuff here brother. Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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