Following a week that saw artists pulling their music from the streaming service that also serves as the exclusive home of his podcast, comedian Joe Rogan issued a video on Instagram to address the controversies arising from his show’s coverage of the COVID pandemic and to admit that “I don’t always get it right.”
Spotify spent a reported $100 million to become the one and only place listeners and fans could hear “The Joe Rogan Experience.” But the streaming giant saw their stock prices fall last week in the wake of a number of musicians calling the company out for the misinformation on the coronavirus spread on Rogan’s podcast.
In a nearly 10-minute video, Rogan discussed two major changes he will make to his program in the interest of limiting misinformation. He promised to follow up any fringe perspectives with mainstream experts, and he also vowed to “do my best to make sure that I’ve researched these topics — the controversial ones in particular — and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”
Rocker Neil Young sparked a firestorm of negative publicity last week when he posted an open letter asking Spotify to remove his musical catalog from their site unless they dumped Rogan’s show.
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” Young wrote. “ … I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Spotify obliged by taking down Young’s content from their site. Other musicians followed Young’s lead including singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell.
The artists are standing in solidarity with medical professionals – hundreds of them – who spoke out earlier this month about the “false and societally harmful assertions” presented on Rogan’s show, according to The Washington Post.
On his podcast, Rogan has offered advice that runs counter to the suggestions of the CDC by stating that young people in good health should not get vaccinated against COVID. He also said he treated his own COVID infection with ivermectin, the antiparasitic drug that the FDA has not approved for coronavirus treatment.
Rogan’s message on social media came after his parent company had announced their own set of changes. Spotify said hours earlier in a news release that they would make public its own internal rules about what they allow on their platform and that they would add a disclaimer to any program discussing COVID.
“We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users,” CEO Daniel Ek wrote. “In that role, it is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.”
Rogan said he supported the addition of a disclaimer while adding vaguely that there are “other things going on behind the scenes” fueling the uproar. He also offered up an apology to the artists who publicly expressed their wish to not share a platform with him.
“I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that,” Rogan said while professing that he is “a huge Neil Young fan.” He also thanked Spotify for standing by him and said he was sorry they had “taken so much heat” over his show.
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