The letter r on the keyboard. Photo: shutterstock.com
In an April episode of the show “The Joe Rogan Experience”, the host used an offensive term in the first 45 seconds of the show. “The word” retardat “has returned and is one of the great cultural victories,” Rogan said in the episode of April 10 of his extreme popular podcast, writes CNN.
“Probably stimulated by podcasts,” added Joe Rogan.
A few months earlier, on January 6, Elon Musk used the same word in response to a Finnish researcher who qualified the billionaire as “the greatest disinformation in the history of mankind.”
The use of this offensive word doubled on X, the platform owned by Musk, in the two days after the January post, discovered researchers at Montclair State University.
Over 312,000 subsequent posts made on X at that time contained the word with “R”, wrote Bond Benton, a communication professor at the University of New Jersey and co -author of a study on this topic.
Things have not stopped here, Benton said. Throughout 2025, influential public personalities such as Rogan, Musk and Kanye West have used the word with “R” on platforms where millions of people can see and hear them. (West recently used this term in March to refer to Jay-Z and Beyoncé's twins, although those X posts have been deleted in the meantime).
Since Musk's posting in January, the online prevalence of the word with “R” has obviously worsened, “Benton told CNN.
Rogan, Musk and West probably use the word to cause people and draw more attention to their contents, Benton said. But, by using a term that has been used throughout history to denigrate and reduce people with disabilities, they renovate insults among followers and fans who interact with their posts, he said.
The recurrence of this word that begins with the letter “R” is symptomatic for a more serious problem-“the apparent death of empathy,” said Adrienne Massanari, associate professor at American University, who studied how the far right uses technology to increase its influence.
“What you see now is that people have taken off their masks. It is not just a misunderstanding, but the erroneous characterization and demonization of communities. The use of this type of language signals a change, a desire to go beyond the limits,” Massanari explained.
If the limits are exceeded, she said, the damage extends to all marginalized communities. The increasing popularity of the word is just the latest attempt for a hatred of hatred, she said.
An example of proliferation of this word could be seen recently in Romania, when actor Victor Rebengiuc was threatened with “heads” because he had announced that he would go to a pro-democracy rally. “You are a retarded boșorog”, this is how the threatening message Victor Rebengiuc begins to reveal to HotNews.ro reporters.
