Podcaster Joe Rogan is in turmoil again. He is accused of having made racist remarks in some of his shows, regularly using the word nigger and comparing a movie theater in a black Philadelphia neighborhood to the Planet of the Apes. These racist comments were reported by singer India.Arie, who also decided to leave Spotify.
The singer also shared on social networks a compilation of excerpts from the podcast of Rogan, who bear witness to the remarks she denounces.
What was Spotify’s reaction? Our colleagues from The Verge were able to see a memo sent by CEO Daniel Ek to his employees. In it, Ek condemns Joe Rogan’s remarks by calling them ” incredibly hurtful and indicating that they do not represent the company’s values. The CEO clarifies that Spotify has discussed with Joe Rogan and his team which episodes are problematic… and that Rogan has chosen which episodes to remove. However, the CEO indicates that he does not ” don’t believe silencing Joe Rogan is the answer to the problem “. An output that is difficult not to see from an economic angle: this podcast is a huge success in the United States and each episode brings together 11 million listeners. That’s why Spotify paid $100 million to enjoy it exclusively.
Spotify didn’t say how many episodes were deleted recently, but the site JREMissing.com, which tracks the Joe Rogan Experience, puts the number at around 70. But there’s nothing to say they’re all related to racial slurs. Since the podcast appeared on Spotify, a total of 113 episodes are said to have disappeared.
For his part, the podcaster published an apology message on instagram calling the facts ” the most regrettable and shameful thing I’ve ever had to say publicly. »
However, Rogan points out that the compilation comes from 12 years of conversations and that the comments are sometimes taken out of context.
Remember that Joe Rogan is also accused of having made antivax remarks in his shows, which led to the departure of artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, followed by Nils Lofgren, Graham Nash and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
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Spotify did not remove episodes that contain antivax comments, but announced that they would put a warning before podcasts that deal with Covid.
Source : The New York Times