Hours after Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a “The Rock,” seemed to publicly retract his support for popular podcast host Joe Rogan, Twitter users published old video clips of Johnson playing “The Rock” for the WWE, giving a mocking impression of the Chinese language.
“Thank you [The Rock] for speaking out against racism,” snarked podcast host Tim Pool.
Thank you @TheRock for speaking out against racism pic.twitter.com/etRPywUGxA
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) February 5, 2022
Conservative Benny Johnson posted a longer version of the clip — which includes a mocking impression of the Swedish language, too — and captioned it, “Can you smell the hurtful racism [The Rock] is cooking?”
Can you smell the hurtful racism @TheRock is cooking? pic.twitter.com/tU4y2HR3UX
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 5, 2022
Johnson last week posted a supportive comment to an Instagram video Rogan published concerning supposed COVID-19 “misinformation” from “The Joe Rogan Experience” episodes.
“Great stuff here brother,” the actor wrote. “Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you.”
But his support waned in a matter of days. The “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” actor suggested Saturday that he no longer supports Rogan over the host’s past use of the N-word on his show.
“Dear [The Rock], 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,” author Don Winslow tweeted at Johnson. “Have you actually listened to this man’s many racist statements about Black people?”
Johnson responded, “Dear [Don Winslow]. Thank you so much for this I hear you as well as everyone here 100%,” he wrote. “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,” Johnson added. “Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend. DJ.”
Following the seemingly retracted support, Republican strategist Andrew Surabian also took a shot at the actor. “Having watched [The Rock]‘s pro wrestling career from the start, I can promise you that he has said many things himself that would get him cancelled today as a sexist & homophobe, which is what makes his 180 on [Joe Rogan] even more pathetic & cowardly,” he wrote, using the same format as Johnson’s tweet about Rogan.
“Just YouTube his old promos,” Surabian added.
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 cancelled today as a sexist & homophobe, which is what makes his 180 on @joerogan even more pathetic & cowardly. Just YouTube his old promos… https://t.co/Ial1KGkDpD
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) February 5, 2022
Rogan posted a video to social media early Saturday morning addressing past use of the N-word in podcast episodes, emphasizing that he never used the word in a “racist” manner, but was generally quoting others or talking about the word, and felt remorse for using the word at all.
“There’s been a lot of s*** from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had said differently. This is my take on the worst of it,” the 54-year-old captioned the video.
Related: ‘The Rock’ Seems To Retract Support For Joe Rogan After Backlash: ‘Learning Moment For Me’
Related: ‘Regretful And Shameful’: Joe Rogan Posts Video Addressing Use Of N-Word In Past Podcast Episodes