The debates over cancel culture are reaching new heights of absurdity. Consider the decisions of musical icons Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to remove their songs from Spotify. Critics have contended that Joe Rogan's podcast, hosted by Spotify, promotes vaccine-skeptical guests and boosts the spread of misinformation about COVID-19.
Neil Young let it be known that Spotify had to choose between him and Rogan. Not surprisingly, Spotify, which invested $100 million in a relationship with Rogan in 2020, was willing to let Young go. Rogan’s podcast, after all, is the most popular podcast of all time.
Some see the musician as an intellectual hero for taking a stand. Yet Young’s own record in this area is far from pristine. For years, he has spread scientific misinformation about GMO foods. While experts have consistently judged GMO foods to be both safe and useful, Young in one song referred to them as poison. As a guest on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2016, Young suggested that GMO foods caused “terrible diseases.” It is hard not to wonder to what degree anti-biotech sentiments like these, ironically, might have fed the current skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines.
