Spotify users could soon be without the music of Neil Young if the musician’s dispute with Joe Rogan is not resolved.
Joe Rogan is the most popular podcaster in the world. His show, The Joe Rogan Experience, is exclusive to Spotify after he signed a $100 million deal with the platform.
In a 12-year run, Rogan has released 1,956 episodes, which amounts to 5,047 hours’ worth of recordings.
Despite this success, love for Rogan is not universal. He has been subject to criticism especially when it comes to his guests.
Joe Rogan’s controversial past
The biggest draw for fans is the range of guests Rogan has on the show. From fighters to politicians, Rogan’s relaxed interview style allows listeners to feel more connected to the interviewee.
On the flip side, critics have called out Rogan for giving a platform to conspiracy theorists and far-right activists.
He has hosted far-right group Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and anti-Black Lives Matter activist Candace Owens.
While he himself has plenty of controversial views. In 2013, he called a transgender MMA fighter ” a f***ing man”. The same year, he compared black people to The Planet of the Apes.
But most recently it has been his opinion on Covid-19 and vaccines that has seen him heavily criticised.
Joe Rogan blasted for saying young, healthy people do not need a Covid-19 vaccine
In an April 2021 episode, Rogan stated that he did not believe young, healthy people needed to receive a vaccine.
“If you’re like 21 years old and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go, ‘No,’” Rogan said.
“If you’re a healthy person and you’re exercising all the time and you’re young and you’re eating well, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”
The backlash was severe. White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN: “I’m not sure that taking scientific and medical advice from Joe Rogan is perhaps the most productive way for people to get their information.”
The US’s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci told NBC’s Today Show that Rogan’s recommendation was self-serving. He added that it was counter to the overarching goal of stopping COVID.
Last month, 270 public health experts signed an open letter against Rogan. They asked Spotify to attach a misinformation warning to the podcast.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Rogan has repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine,” the group, which was led by epidemiologist Jessica Rivera, said.
“He has discouraged vaccination in young people and children, incorrectly claimed that mRNA vaccines are ‘gene therapy’, and promoted off-label use of Ivermectin to treat Covid-19 (contrary to FDA warnings).”
Neil Young says it is either me or Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan may not have expected one of his most vocal critics to be Neil Young.
But now the legendary musician has issued an ultimatum to Rogan’s employer Spotify.
The “Old Man” singer told Spotify it had to choose between him or Rogan. He then demanded that Spotify remove his music from the streaming platform.
“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 said in an open letter on his website which has since been removed.
“Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence.
“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy,”
“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.”
A Spotify spokesperson later told The Hollywood Reporter that they were in the process of removing Young’s music from the platform.
The spokesperson said: “We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.
“We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.”
Dana White defends Joe Rogan over controversial Covid-19 drug
One man in Rogan’s corner is UFC president Dana White.
At the post-fight press conference for UFC Vegas 46, White described the medical experts’ open letter to Rogan as “disgusting” and “one of the craziest things I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”
White also supported Rogan’s unsubstantiated claims that the drug Ivermectin was effective in treating Covid-19.
“Medicine that absolutely works, they’re keeping from us. I don’t want to get too political and start getting into all this s**t, but Ivermectin and monoclonal antibodies have been around for a long time.
“Now all of a sudden, you can’t dig them up to save your life, the doctors won’t give them to you.
“Even when I did it here in Vegas when I had [Covid-19] right before Christmas, I made one phone call and I was able to get it done. And that’s not some rich famous guy s**t – anybody could’ve called and got it back then.”
Ivermectin is generally used to treat parasites and has not been approved to treat Covid-19.
