UFC fighter Israel Adesanya on Thursday night took on a question that was not directed at him to offer a fierce defense of popular podcast host Joe Rogan, calling Rogan “one of the nicest, coolest, humble motherf***ers” in the industry.
During a pre-fight conference, a reporter started to asked UFC President Dana White about the “controversy” surrounding Rogan and controversial language the podcaster has used on his show. As White starts to walk away from the podium, Adesanya says he wants to take on the question.
“Hold up,” Adesanya said. “I’m black. I can take this one.”
“Look, there’s a lot of c***s in this game,” he told the reporter. “There are a lot of snakes in this game. I’ve been in this fight game since 2008. Joe Rogan is one of the nicest, coolest, humble motherf***ers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Understand that.”
“F*** the noise,” Adesanya added. “You know what they’re trying to do. You can’t control the man. He’s got the biggest platform in the world right now. That’s my n**** Joe Rogan.”
Pressed about what Rogan should do to block out the “noise,” the fighter said, “Just keep doing you, Joe. Have some mushrooms. Keep doing you.”
Rogan addressed his use of the N-word in years-past “Joe Rogan Experience” episodes over the weekend in a video he posted to social media.
The host emphasized that when you look at past clips of his use of the word in context, he says he was either quoting others or speaking about the word generally, never using it in a racist fashion.
Still, Rogan said in the video that he regrets using the word and hoped it would be a “learning moment” for others.
“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,” Rogan captioned the post.
“I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist,” the 54-year-old said in the video. “But whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say, ‘I’m not racist,’ you f***ed up. And I clearly have f***ed up.”
“Hopefully some of you will accept this and understand where I’m coming from,” Rogan closed. “My apologies and much love — my sincere, deepest apologies.”
The efforts to cancel Rogan have picked up steam over the past couple of weeks. Before the attacks slandering him as racist, left-wing celebrities and media figures worked to pressure audio platform Spotify to remove “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast over alleged COVID-19 “misinformation.”
“The podcast has been accused of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation,” Rogan said in a video posted to Instagram Sunday. “The problem I have with the term ‘misinformation,’ especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as ‘misinformation’ just a short while ago are now accepted as fact.”
WATCH:
Israel Adesanya vehemently defends @JoeRogan amid his latest controversy.
"Joe Rogan is one of the nicest, coolest, humble motherf*ckers I've had the pleasure of working with."#UFC271 | Full video: https://t.co/ArYOi51nJ6 pic.twitter.com/QKAVi2L4ux
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) February 10, 2022
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