Eugene Tech 02.07.2022 08:Feb AM EST

Spotify Removes Over 100 Joe Rogan Podcast Episode Amid Controversies

Following the controversies late last month that stemmed from an interview by comedian-podcaster Joe Rogan with vaccine skeptic guests, giant streaming platform Spotify has now removed a total of 113 episodes of "The Joe Rogan Experience."

According to The Verge, 70 podcast episodes of Rogan "mysteriously" disappeared starting Friday last week.

At that time, a video of Rogan also surfaced on social media where he apologized for his episodes that included racial slurs. As per the CNN report, the video clip showed that Rogan used the "n-word 20 times" in different podcast episodes.

But Rogan said in his video that the circulating video clip is a "compilation of his episodes in 12 years."

Now, The Verge said the number of episodes removed from Spotify had reached 113, citing the website JREMissing.com, which tracks episodes of "The Joe Rogan Experience" that are disappearing on Spotify.

Obtaining a copy of the memo that Spotify CEO Daniel Ek released to address staff regarding the Rogan issue, The Verge said CEO Ek recognized the reported comments as "hurtful." With that, the CEO wanted to clarify that those comments during the podcast episodes "do not represent the values of the company [Spotify]."

However, as per the CNN report, CEO Ek does not believe that silencing Rogan is the answer.

Further, Spotify and Rogan were also said to have engaged in dialogue already. Based on the report, following that dialogue, Rogan "chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify."

Spotify's Course of Action

Since the controversies started, Spotify has implemented different courses of action to address the issue.

One major move was posting a lengthy article on the website informing the public they are publishing their long-standing Platform Rules "to be more transparent" and "provide balance and access" to be acceptable and reliable information.

As the post said, CEO EK believes COVID-19 information should come from credible professionals such as scientists, physicians, and authorities.

This move was then coupled with adding "content warnings" that will lead listeners to a hub of COVID-19 data and facts.

Despite removing over a hundred Joe Rogan episodes, The Verge also said that CEO Ek is committing $100 million to support the "licensing, developing, and marketing of music [artists and songwriters] and other audio contents" made by individuals from marginalized backgrounds.

Rundown of Joe Rogan Issue

The Spotify-Rogan controversies can be traced back to a podcast episode where Rogan interviewed vaccine skeptic guests in his "The Joe Rogan Experience." That interview was met with criticisms from listeners who said the comedian-podcaster was "promoting COVID-19 misinformation.

As soon as the issue broke out, some artists have joined the public's call to address the issue by pulling out their music from Spotify. One prominent artist who asked to pull out his music was Niel Young, who gave an ultimatum to Spotify to "choose between his music or Rogan's podcasts."

Spotify removed Young's music shortly after the artist aired his ultimatum.

Amid the COVID-19 misinformation issues, singer Joni Mitchell, who happened to be Young's friend, has also asked Spotify to remove his music.

Aside from them, podcast host and author Brene Brown has also announced on Twitter that there will be a pause on her podcasts "Unlocking Us" and "Dare to Live," which people got shocked about and thought to be connected to the Spotify-Rogan issue.

As the issue goes on, and as it turns hotter and hotter, Rogan has publicly acknowledged his "mistakes" and promised that he would "do better."