Dwayne Johnson has divided his fans by publicly supporting Joe Rogan amid the ongoing controversy surrounding his Spotify podcast.
The actor, 49, replied to the podcaster’s video in which he addressed the platform’s policy changes that have been introduced following criticism from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Musicians Young and Mitchell asked Spotify to remove their music from the service in opposition to the streaming giant’s affiliation with Rogan, 54, who has been accused of spreading Covid “disinformation” on his podcasts.
Spotify has now said it will add Covid-19 content advisory labels in response to the backlash caused by the controversy.
On Tuesday (1 February), Graham Nash and India Arie followed suit and requested that their music be removed, also.
In a lengthy video, Rogan addressed the controversy, telling his followers that he thinks “a lot of people had a distorted perception of what I do”.
“[My] podcast has been accused of spreading dangerous misinformation, specifically about two episodes,” he said.
He continued: “I’m not trying to promote misinformation. I’m not trying to be controversial. I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people and have interesting conversations.”
In response to the video, Johnson wrote: “Great stuff here, brother. Perfectly articulated.”
He added that he looks forward to “coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you”.
The responses to Johnson’s comment were extremely divided.
“Never been so disappointed in my life,” one person wrote, with another adding in reference to Rogan’s choice of guests: “Highly disappointed in you for supporting a man spreading medical disinformation about a pandemic.”
However, there were many who praised Johnson for his reply to Rogan. One fan stated: “I am so here for this!” with some throwing support behind Johnson’s appearance on the podcast.
