The latest controversy podcaster and comic Joe Rogan faces right now also highlights a fear which often plagues Black folks: That a high-profile person, who claims to be non-racist and an ally to people of color, may actually be the opposite.

And, in Rogan's case, it's all wrapped up in something I've called Bigotry Denial Syndrome.

Rogan himself claims he isn't racist. He says clips on social media of him using the n-word in his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience were examples of him invoking the word in conversations where it wasn't used as a slur about specific people or Black people in general. Rogan was following an ethic – he now says was wrong – which held that white people should be able to use the word if their intent isn't to denigrate Black people.

"I know that to most people, there's no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now," Rogan said in an apology posted to Instagram. "I haven't said it in years," he added.

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