5, the day after the podcast episodes were removed, in which he talked about his use of racial slurs and apologized for his actions. Rogan uploaded a video to his Instagram account on Feb. Spotify didn't respond to a request for comment on whether it will increase the investment to $200 million to match the newly reported amount of Rogan's deal. This will dramatically increase our efforts in these areas.' And I want to make one point very clear - I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.'Įk went on to say the company would invest $100 million - the earlier reported amount it paid to Rogan for exclusivity rights - for the 'licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups.

'While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. 'Some of Joe Rogan's comments incredibly hurtful - I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company,' Ek wrote in the memo, which was provided to CNET by a company spokeswoman. This came after Spotify's leadership spoke to the comedian about his use of 'racially insensitive language.'ĬNET couldn't confirm a link between the circulating videos and the episodes that were removed from Spotify. He confirmed that Rogan chose to remove multiple episodes of his podcast from the streaming service. 4 without explanation at the time.Įk sent a memo to Spotify employees about the development on Feb. A total of 113 episodes of Rogan's podcast were shown to be removed: 42 happened last year when Rogan moved his show to Spotify. The website, JREMissing, uses Spotify's API to compare available episodes to a database of all episodes recorded. 4, a fan-made website found that more than 100 episodes of Rogan's podcast were no longer available on Spotify. 1 found 19% of Spotify subscribers said they canceled or will cancel their service, according to a report from Variety. The hashtags #DeleteSpotify and #CancelSpotify began trending on Twitter as some people called for the removal of Rogan's podcast.

This was layered on top of a growing musician boycott over concerns that Rogan's podcast serves as a platform for COVID misinformation. Videos of Rogan using racial slurs on past episodes went viral on social media at the end of January. Why were episodes of Rogan's podcast removed? Here's what you need to know about the backlash against Joe Rogan and Spotify. 8 but added that it was a 'relief' to address comments he regrets making. Rogan said the backlash was a 'political hit job' in an episode of his podcast posted on Feb. 5, saying he 'wasn't trying to be racist' and agreeing that he shouldn't use such slurs, regardless of the context.

Rogan posted an apology to Instagram on Feb. The company paid the comedian a reported $200 million, double the amount previously thought, according to a report from The New York Times Thursday. It views Rogan as a key component to its growth as an audio platform, and the comedian has said being able to express himself is one of the reasons he moved his podcast to the streaming service. Spotify continues to grapple with a dilemma that many internet giants like Facebook and YouTube face: balancing freedom of expression and effective moderation of objectionable content on their platforms. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek confirmed that Rogan chose to remove multiple episodes of his popular podcast from the streaming service after the company's leadership discussed his use of 'racially insensitive language,' according to a memo sent to employees. Some other artists joined the boycott, but the backlash grew soon after when a compilation video of Rogan using a racial slur on numerous past episodes began circulating on social media. In January, rock legend Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over objections to false claims about COVID-19 vaccines on Rogan's popular podcast. This has put pressure on Spotify, the music streaming service that signed the comedian to an exclusivity deal in 2020. Joe Rogan and his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, are at the center of growing concerns over COVID-19 misinformation and the host's use of racial slurs in dozens of episodes.

Spotify joe rogan 100 million