Joe Rogan apologizes after video shows him repeatedly saying racial slur

American podcaster Joe Rogan has issued his second apology in a week, this time for using racial slurs after a montage video surfaced showing him repeatedly saying the N-word.

In an apology video posted on Instagram on Saturday, Rogan said it was the "most regretful and shameful thing that I've ever had to talk about publicly."

Rogan said footage that emerged of him using the epithet had been taken out of context, but it looked "horrible, even to me."

Rogan's apology came after Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter India Arie pulled her music from the Spotify streaming service, which hosts Rogan's podcast, after posting clips on her Instagram feed of him using the N-word.

Denies being a racist

In his apology, Rogan said the montage showed him using the epithet in conversations on shows over the last 12 years, and included examples of him discussing its use by Black and white comedians and others. He said he had not spoken it in years.

"It's not my word to use. I am well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner," he said. "I never used it to be racist because I'm not racist."

Rogan said he hoped "this can be a teachable moment for anybody that doesn't realize how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person's mouth, in context or out of context."

He ended the statement by offering his "sincere, deepest apologies and much love."

Media reports on Saturday said more than 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast had been removed from the Spotify Technology SA service.

Spotify did not respond to a request for comment.

Backlash against COVID-19 misinformation

On Monday, Rogan apologized amid a backlash against COVID-19 misinformation on his program, and Spotify said it would add a content advisory to any episode with discussion of the coronavirus.

Rogan, a mixed martial arts commentator and prominent vaccine skeptic, has stirred controversy with his views on the pandemic, and vaccines and government mandates to control the spread of the virus.

Canadian singer-songwriters Neil Young and Joni Mitchell announced last week they were removing their music from Spotify to protest coronavirus misinformation on the platform.