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Spotify Removes Some Joe Rogan Episodes After Racist Comments Surface

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Spotify logo with warning that "some content may be harmful for your health"Spotify has removed over 100 episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE). Ignoring the episodes that Spotify refused to platform at all due to their content, Spotify removed (at the latest count) 113 episodes. Many of those were removed this week. Interestingly, these weren’t episodes connected to Joe Rogan’s fascination with spreading dangerous COVID-19 misinformation. Instead, it could be in response to the racist rhetoric Joe Rogan has used in past episodes, as well as his most recent conversation with other noted right-wing personality, Jordan Peterson. Besides the audacious claims by Peterson that “there’s no such thing as ‘climate,'” the two also questioned whether noted African-American professor Michael Eric Dyson could actually call himself Black.

Artist India.Arie recently asked Spotify to remove her music from the platform. Her Instagram story included a few of Rogan’s racist comments over the years. It brought to light Rogan’s use of the n-word, as well as racist stories he told on the program.

Now India.Arie joins Neil Young and other artists in removing their music from Spotify. Some have asked users and musicians to leave Spotify behind. Artists have long complained about Spotify’s horrible payouts, which give artists very little for their work. Now they have another reason to leave the platform: a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic troll spreading dangerous misinformation.

Could this be the end of Spotify’s music streaming dynasty?

Spotify seems to think they have a serious problem on their hands, as they’ve gone back and started removing many JRE episodes. But, just as their response to his COVID-19 misinformation, it’s not enough.

Missing JRE Episodes

Spotify hasn’t reported why they removed as many as 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast on Friday. However, one of the worst episodes for COVID-19 misinformation remains. A medical doctor, banned from social networks for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, was featured on Rogan’s podcast. He claims he invented mRNA vaccines, a claim that some—including mRNA researchers who lead to the creation of our modern vaccines—question. Perhaps for good reason. His episode remains on the platform. Instead, older episodes, some from far-right personalities, were taken down. It could be Spotify is responding to the backlash over Rogan’s racism.

Rogan attempted to apologize for his racist incidents, his use of the n-word, when he said white and Black brains are different, questioning whether or not a man was Black because of his skin tone, as well as referring to a predominately Black neighborhood as “Planet of the Apes.” However, his apology came up short, doubling down on some of the issues people found objectionable. He claimed that he “was tying to make the story entertaining” when he made racist comments about a Black neighborhood. He also explained away the video of him using the n-word multiple times, saying the video lacked context and occurred over a period of 12 years. However, his episode with Jordan Peterson came out only last week. Comments that these issues are distantly in the rear view mirror just don’t ring true.

As of now, Spotify is still standing behind Joe Rogan. They have removed a number of his episodes, but his episodes including COVID-19 misinformation have been allowed to remain. To many, his bigotry and spread of dangerous misinformation just isn’t worth staying on Spotify. Artists are leaving, and, if consumers want to leave, there are plenty of better options to choose from. Both Apple Music and Tidal feature higher streaming quality and pay their musicians more for their music. Plus, it’s easy to switch with apps like SongShift. I made the switch some time ago and started saving money with one of Apple’s plans that combine their services. It’s actually quite easy. Just thought you might want to know that.

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