In the wake of much controversy surrounding recent guests on his show, as well as unearthed past racial slurs, Joe Rogan still has the backing of his biggest platform.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on Sunday sent a memo to the company’s employees saying that while Rogan’s comments are “incredibly hurtful” and “do not represent the values of this company,” Rogan still has a home at Spotify. Spotify in 2020 paid a reported $100 million for “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.
“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,” Ek said in the memo. “And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.”
In January, a group of nearly 300 doctors and scientists sent a letter to Spotify asking the streaming platform to put a stop to what it deemed COVID-19 misinformation after Rogan had Dr. Robert Malone on his show in December. The number of baseless claims Malone made ultimately led to the episode being pulled from YouTube, and it’s one of the episodes Spotify has removed, as well.
After a number of artists, led by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, asked to have their catalogs removed from Spotify over what they say is COVID misinformation disseminated on Rogan’s show, Rogan apologized in late January by saying: “I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”
But the narrative shifted beyond COVID when singer India Arie circulated clips of Rogan using the N-word on past episodes of his show.
According to reports, after conversations between Rogan and top Spotify executives, roughly 70 past episodes of the show have been taken down by Rogan “following these discussions and his own reflections,” Ek said in the statement.
Rogan again had to apologize this past week and said the racial slurs incident was “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”
Beyond his podcast, Rogan is perhaps best known as the longtime broadcast analyst for the UFC. And while he no longer is in the booth for every event, he does most major pay-per-views. The UFC has not yet issued a statement on Rogan’s most recent controversy. It is not yet known if he will be on the UFC 271 broadcast Saturday in Houston.
Read Ek’s internal memo (via Axios) to Spotify employees in full below:
“Spotify Team,
“There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you. Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful – I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.
“I think it’s important you’re aware that we’ve had conversations with Joe and his team about some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language. Following these discussions and his own reflections, he chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify. He also issued his own apology over the weekend.
“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. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.
“Another criticism that I continue to hear from many of you is that it’s not just about The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify; it comes down to our direct relationship with him. In last week’s Town Hall, I outlined to you that we are not the publisher of JRE. But perception due to our exclusive license implies otherwise. So I’ve been wrestling with how this perception squares with our values.
“If we believe in having an open platform as a core value of the company, then we must also believe in elevating all types of creators, including those from underrepresented communities and a diversity of backgrounds. We’ve been doing a great deal of work in this area already but I think we can do even more. So I am committing to an incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups. This will dramatically increase our efforts in these areas. While some might want us to pursue a different path, I believe that more speech on more issues can be highly effective in improving the status quo and enhancing the conversation altogether.
“I deeply regret that you are carrying so much of this burden. I also want to be transparent in setting the expectation that in order to achieve our goal of becoming the global audio platform, these kinds of disputes will be inevitable. For me, I come back to centering on our mission of unlocking the potential of human creativity and enabling more than a billion people to enjoy the work of what we think will be more than 50 million creators. That mission makes these clashes worth the effort.
“I’ve told you several times over the last week, but I think it’s critical we listen carefully to one another and consider how we can and should do better. I’ve spent this time having lots of conversations with people inside and outside of Spotify – some have been supportive while others have been incredibly hard, but all of them have made me think.
“One of the things I am thinking about is what additional steps we can take to further balance creator expression with user safety. I’ve asked our teams to expand the number of outside experts we consult with on these efforts and look forward to sharing more details.
“Your passion for this company and our mission has made a difference in the lives of so many listeners and creators around the world. I hope you won’t lose sight of that. It’s that ability to focus and improve Spotify even on some of our toughest days that has helped us build the platform we have. We have a clear opportunity to learn and grow together from this challenge and I am ready to meet it head on.
“I know it is difficult to have these conversations play out so publicly, and I continue to encourage you to reach out to your leaders, your HR partners or me directly if you need support or resources for yourself or your team.
— Spotify CEO Daniel Ek”
