News

Spotify finally removes some episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast

The music platform has removed some episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, including several mentioning the “N word”.

Neil Young and his supporters will have finally prevailed… at least in part. A few days ago, the singer decided to withdraw his entire music library from the Spotify platform. Followed by several other artists, Young hoped to bend the social network about Joe Rogan and his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. Very controversial, the comedian’s show was notably accused of conveying false information about covid-19 and vaccination, but not only.

Joe Rogan finally sanctioned for the “N word”

We had to wait until this weekend and the distribution of an internal note signed by the CEO of the company Daniel Ek, to have the end of the story. While Joe Rogan had never officially been sanctioned or deprogrammed for his antivax content, the host finally received the removal of 70 episodes from his show. A joint decision, assures Spotify, which mentions the character “incredibly hurtful” of certain remarks made, which “do not represent the values ​​of this company”.

Among the sensitive points that led to the cancellation of certain episodes of The Joe Rogan ExperienceSpotify does not, however, quote the host’s antivax comments, but rather those related to racism, and in particular “the use of racially insensitive language”. A polite expression to evoke the “N-word”.

No censorship though

All in “strongly condemning” Joe Rogan’s remarks, however, Spotify indicated thata deprogramming of his show was not topical. “We need to have clear rules when it comes to content, and act accordingly when boundaries are crossed. But censoring is a slippery slope”, argues Daniel Ek. The boss of the platform reiterated his company’s position on the content it hosts and its (non) responsibility. However, she acknowledged that exclusivity agreements with Rogan and other animators could lead to confusion about her role.

To stem the crisis, the firm with the green logo announced the investment of 100 million dollars in a program aimed at licensing historically marginalized artists and groups. Several internal experts should also be recruited to facilitate decisions on future sensitive subjects of the company. For his part, Joe Rogan also issued a public apology. In addition to using the word “nigger”, he also compared an area frequented by a large number of black people to a remake of The Planet of the Apes. In his internal note, Daniel Ek also took responsibility on the subject, indicating that he was “deeply sorry”.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *