Joe Rogan Slammed For Saying It's 'Very Strange' To Call Someone 'Black'

By Stewart Perrie

Joe Rogan has come under fire for saying it's 'very strange' to call someone Black during his interview with Joran Peterson.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the two came onto the topic of how academic Michael Eric Dyson called Peterson a 'mean, angry, white man' back in 2018.

Rogan said the comments were incorrect, adding: "Depending on who you ask, either you're a voice of reason and rationality and personal responsibility, or a voice of intolerance and bigotry and anger and hateful.

"What did Michael Eric Dyson call you? A mean, angry, white man? Hilarious. You're not mean at all. That's what's dumb about that statement."

They then joked that it's a lie to even call Peterson white because he says he has a bit of a tan. The author added that Dyson 'is actually not Black' and is more 'brown'.

That sparked Rogan to dive into the way we label people of different ethnicities with only a few words.

"Well, isn't that weird?" he remarked. "The Black and white thing is so strange because the shades are so...there's such a spectrum of shades of people.

"Unless you're talking to someone who is, like, 100 per cent African from the darkest place where they're not wearing any clothes all day and they've developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun.

"Even the term Black is weird and when you use it for people that are literally my colour, it becomes very strange."

It's sparked a wave of criticism on social media, with people saying that he's splitting hairs when it comes to labels.

Even Michael Eric Dyson has called Rogan and Peterson out for the comments.

He told The Daily Beast: "Clearly they haven't kept up with discussion about how race isn't just about skin tone or color, but about a host of meanings determined in the social world.

"Blackness is not about shade, but about the shade provided by traditions of Black thought, culture, and resistance."

He added that he would love to be invited onto the show to discuss the topic further.

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