It appears that Joe Rogan is staying put at Spotify after the Big Tech giant demanded he put disclaimers on his videos, and other censorship measures, after a series of left-wing outcries.
Joe Rogan told an audience this week that he would not be accepting video-streaming service Rumble’s $100 million offer to move his popular show over from Spotify.
[source: The Daily Wire]
During the Q&A portion of his stand up comedy act, Rogan was asked whether he would consider a $100 million offer made by Rumble to move his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, off of Spotify and on to the anti-censorship platform exclusively.
“No, Spotify has hung in with me, inexplicably, let’s see what happens,” Rogan said.
On Monday, YouTube competitor Rumble released a statement in support of Joe Rogan, appearing to offer the podcast host $100 million for a four-year deal.
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski… pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
— Rumble (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
As Variety explained, “Rogan has faced a storm of criticism and a backlash from Spotify users and artists in recent weeks, traveling along two different vectors: His repeated use of the N-word in past episodes of his podcast, and accusations that Rogan’s show has served as a platform for COVID misinformation.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek released a statement on Sunday, announcing that the streaming service would stand by the podcast host.
“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. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek said.
Ek then explained in a note to staff that it was Rogan’s decision to remove dozens of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” from Spotify.
Erasing a few contentious episodes of a podcast is a small price to pay for a hundred million dollars in return, but it appears that Spotify is doing only the bare minimum to protect Rogan’s right to free speech.
Such is the case in liberal America: the government doesn’t even have to make laws anymore — corporations arm-in-arm with bloated federal agencies will do the dirty work for them.
Author: Nolan Sheridan
