"While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. "Some of Joe Rogan's comments incredibly hurtful - I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company," Ek wrote in the memo, which was provided to CNET by a company spokeswoman. This came after Spotify's leadership spoke to the comedian about his use of "racially insensitive language."ĬNET couldn't confirm a link between the circulating videos and the episodes that were removed from Spotify. He confirmed that Rogan chose to remove multiple episodes of his podcast from the streaming service. 4 without explanation at the time.Įk sent a memo to Spotify employees about the development on Feb. A total of 113 episodes of Rogan's podcast were shown to be removed: 42 happened last year when Rogan moved his show to Spotify. The website, JREMissing, uses Spotify's API to compare available episodes to a database of all episodes recorded. 4, a fan-made website found that more than 100 episodes of Rogan's podcast were no longer available on Spotify. 1 found 19% of Spotify subscribers said they canceled or will cancel their service, according to a report from Variety. The hashtags #DeleteSpotify and #CancelSpotify began trending on Twitter as some people called for the removal of Rogan's podcast. This was layered on top of a growing musician boycott over concerns that Rogan's podcast serves as a platform for COVID misinformation. Videos of Rogan using racial slurs on past episodes went viral on social media at the end of January. Why were episodes of Rogan's podcast removed? Here's what you need to know about the backlash against Joe Rogan and Spotify. 8 but added that it was a "relief" to address comments he regrets making. Rogan said the backlash was a "political hit job" in an episode of his podcast posted on Feb. 5, saying he "wasn't trying to be racist" and agreeing that he shouldn't use such slurs, regardless of the context. Rogan posted an apology to Instagram on Feb.
The company paid the comedian a reported $200 million, double the amount previously thought, according to a report from The New York Times Thursday. It views Rogan as a key component to its growth as an audio platform, and the comedian has said being able to express himself is one of the reasons he moved his podcast to the streaming service. Spotify continues to grapple with a dilemma that many internet giants like Facebook and YouTube face: balancing freedom of expression and effective moderation of objectionable content on their platforms. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek confirmed that Rogan chose to remove multiple episodes of his popular podcast from the streaming service after the company's leadership discussed his use of "racially insensitive language," according to a memo sent to employees. Some other artists joined the boycott, but the backlash grew soon after when a compilation video of Rogan using a racial slur on numerous past episodes began circulating on social media. In January, rock legend Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over objections to false claims about COVID-19 vaccines on Rogan's popular podcast. This has put pressure on Spotify, the music streaming service that signed the comedian to an exclusivity deal in 2020. In a letter sent to Spotify staff, Ek said that while he “strongly condemn” Rogan’s past use of the slur, he “ not believe that silencing Joe is the answer” and that “canceling voices is a slippery slope”.Joe Rogan and his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, are at the center of growing concerns over COVID-19 misinformation and the host's use of racial slurs in dozens of episodes. Spotify pulled some 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience as a result, reportedly at Rogan’s request. Shortly after the controversy surrounding misinformation on The Joe Rogan Experience, footage emerged of Rogan repeatedly using the n-word on the podcast. I’m going to do my best in the future to balance things out,” he continued.
Rogan responded to the boycott himself in a video on his Instagram page, telling fans: “I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”
In response to the controversy, CEO Daniel Ek announced that Spotify would be adding content advisories to podcast episodes discussing vaccines, directing listeners to the platform’s dedicated COVID-19 information hub.
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