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Joe Rogan claims this slur making a comeback is ‘one of the great culture victories’ and sparks outrage

Home> Celebrity> News

Published 16:31 15 Apr 2025 GMT+1

Joe Rogan claims this slur making a comeback is ‘one of the great culture victories’ and sparks outrage

The host of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast made the comment after welcoming on Dave Smith and Douglas Murray

Emily Brown

Emily Brown

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/PowerfulJRE

Topics: Joe Rogan, Podcast, US News, Celebrity

Emily Brown
Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.

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Joe Rogan has been hit with backlash after he claimed one controversial slur was 'back' and described it as 'one of the great culture victories' just seconds into one of his latest podcast episodes.

While some controversial figures might claim that humanity is becoming 'too sensitive', slurs are considered slurs for a reason.

The words can insult and offend certain communities, and as a result many of them, including the one used by Rogan on his recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, are no longer considered acceptable to use.

However, after welcoming stand-up comedian Dave Smith and political commentator Douglas Murray on to his podcast last week, Rogan took less than a minute to casually slip a slur into his conversation with his two guests.

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Rogan made the comment while speaking with Dave Smith & Douglas Murray (PowerfulJRE)
Rogan made the comment while speaking with Dave Smith & Douglas Murray (PowerfulJRE)

Shortly after the show began, Rogan used the word 'r****ded', before adding: "We were just talking about it. The word r****ded is back and it's one of the great culture victories that I think is spurred on probably by podcasts."

The term has a background in medical language, which previously referred to 'intellectual disability' as 'mental re***dation'.

In 2013, the term was updated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which is responsible for naming, defining, and describing mental disorders.

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In the years since the word fell out of favor in the medical world, it has also become an insult towards people with mental and intellectual disabilities.

Twitter users hit back at Rogan after the clip was shared online (PowerfulJRE)
Twitter users hit back at Rogan after the clip was shared online (PowerfulJRE)

After the podcast was shared online, Rogan was hit with widespread backlash from members of the public criticizing his use of, and comments surrounding, the word.

Maureen McCormick, who famously played Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch, tagged Rogan on Twitter as she shared her disapproval of his comments.

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She wrote: "Your statement that 'the ‘R’ word is back and it’s one of the great culture victories,' ignores the terrible hurt it causes to the millions of people with intellectual disabilities. This is not a victory. It is a regression."

Another Twitter user wrote: "As the father of a beautiful autistic son, there’s no word that makes me angrier."

Responding to users who had shared the clip of Rogan, a third person commented: "So do any of you have a special needs child? Some find it really offensive, just saying. Society doesn’t care about the disabled."

Rogan is widely known to be a controversial figure, having previously alleged you can 'can never be woke enough' as he spoke about the changing culture.

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