Conservatives who are defending Rogan with cries of free speech are being disingenuous. For one thing, it comes at a moment when conservatives have mastered the art of legislative cancelation, passing laws that threaten to fine and fire teachers who teach aspects of America’s brutal history of racial inequity that might cause discomfort among White students or parents.

The real issue isn’t about whether to cancel Joe Rogan (although some have advocated for Spotify to end its relationship in wake of the controversy). It is about exposing who Rogan really is and admitting that his brand of conversation, which at times traffics in conspiracy theories, cultural intolerance and blatant racism, attracts millions of avid listeners and corporate sponsors hungry to advertise their wares to such followers. Rogan is, in fact, an agent of these social ills, which he packages and sends out to his audience clothed in the language of moderation and moral equivalence. For example, in addition to his uses of the n-word, Rogan has made waves by suggesting that because “you can never be woke enough … it’ll eventually get to [where] White men are not allowed to talk.” Rogan laughed uproariously when comedian Joey Diaz, one of his guests, described pressuring women into performing oral sex on him. Rogan has horribly and deliberately misgendered a trans MMA fighter. He’s discouraged young people from getting the Covid-19 vaccine, hosted guests who question its validity and given a platform to climate skepticism from controversial clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson…

The far right-wing conservative support for Rogan belies the myth that his show represents a reasonable middle or common ground uniting average Americans untethered to the left-right spectrum of American politics.