Joe Rogan publishes video statement: In a nine-minute video, the 54-year-old comments on the controversy surrounding two corona episodes of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience”.
“These podcasts are unusual because they’re just conversations. A lot of times I don’t know what I’m going to talk about until we’re talking. That’s why my utterances aren’t always perfectly prepared or thought through to the last detail because I have the thoughts in the moment But I’m doing my best. It’s just conversations — and I think that’s what makes the show so appealing. That’s what makes the podcast interesting.”
Allegations of false information against the popular podcaster were previously made. The reason: Rogan’s controversial talks with US cardiologist Peter McCullough and virologist Robert Malone.
Rock musician Neil Young had his music removed from Spotify over Rogan’s controversial podcast episodes. The 76-year-old criticized that the streaming platform had become a “place of potentially deadly disinformation about Covid”. Singer Joni Mitchell joined the boycott –
Musician James Blunt also intervened – with a joke. He threatened to release new music if Spotify didn’t distance itself from Rogan.
Other critics – including 270 doctors and experts – called on the streaming service to end its collaboration with Rogan and cancel its $100 million deal.
Spotify is also reacting: the head of the streaming platform has announced that it intends to add a content notice to controversial corona podcasts in order to guide users to more information about the pandemic.
In his video statement, Rogan emphasizes that he welcomes Spotify’s disclaimer and that in future he wants to follow controversial podcast guests promptly with an episode with a dissenting voice.
“In the future I will do my best to keep things balanced. I will do my best. My motivation for doing this is to have interesting conversations that people enjoy. So if I upset you, I’m sorry. If you enjoy it, thank you!”