Joe Rogan
The Spotify boss justifies cooperation
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has stuck with Joe Rogan.
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The discussion about Joe Rogan does not stop. Now Spotify boss Daniel Ek was forced to make a statement to his employees.
With his statements about the corona vaccination, podcaster Joe Rogan (54) has already driven superstars like Neil Young (76) off the platform. India Arie (46) has now had her music removed and accused Rogan of dangerous misinformation about the vaccination against Corona and racist undertones. Spotify boss Daniel Ek (38) saw himself therefore, according to “The Hollywood Reporter”, now prompted to do soto draft a lengthy letter to his employees, which the site has seen.
According to the report, 113 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast have already been removed, 71 of them last Friday alone. Rogan repeatedly used the N-word in many of them and made other derogatory remarks about African Americans. Ek’s statement read: “Some of Joe Rogan’s comments are not only incredibly hurtful – I want to make it clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know the situation has left many of you feeling drained, frustrated and… to be unheard.”
Spotify sticks with Rogan
But despite this clear demarcation from Rogan, Spotify is still sticking with the comedian. Ek justifies this with the words: “I strongly condemn what Joe said and I agree with his decision to remove old episodes from our platform. I realize that some of you are asking for more, but I would like one point very much make it clear: I don’t think silencing Joe is the answer.”
In his view, an open discourse is more productive than “cancelling votes.” To reinforce this, he says he wants to spend $100 million to support marginalized groups.
Neil Young launched boycott
Musician Neil Young got the ball rolling. He urged Spotify to remove Rogan’s podcast from the platform. After this did not happen, the musician has been boycotting the streaming service ever since. Spotify has become a place of “potentially deadly disinformation about Covid”.
His colleague Joni Mitchell (78) then also decided to have her music removed. “Irresponsible people spread lies that cost people their lives”, she shared on her website and explainedthat she shares Young’s opinion. Rogan has already spoken up about the debate, apologized and promised to improve.