THE debate around Joe Rogan and Spotify continues this weekend as the streaming platform removed over 70 episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience in the wake of growing concern about misinformation and harmful content posted on the platform.
Most of the pulled episodes were recorded before his recent Covid-19 controversy and involved far-right commentators including Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Owen Benjamin and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes.
But other interviews with Amy Schumer, Marc Maron, Bill Burr, Andy Dick, Tool frontman Maynard J. Keenan and Iliza Shlesinger were also removed.
The move comes after Rogan publicly apologised on Saturday following a compilation video resurfaced of him using the N-word several times on the podcast, shared by Grammy-winning R&B singer India Arie on her Instagram story.
Speaking to his Instagram followers, Rogan replied by saying: “I’m making this video to talk about the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly. There’s a video out that’s a compilation of me saying the N-word, a video made of clips taken out of context of me of twelve years of conversations on my podcast and it’s all smushed together, and it looks fucking horrible, even to me.”
The podcaster went on to explain how his use of the word was always within context, but admitted, “to most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast.”
Rogan went on to clarify that “it’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use. I’m well aware of that now.”
Watch Rogan’s full video here.
India Arie had posted the problematic clips Friday afternoon while explaining why she decided to part ways with the world’s most popular streaming service and calling for her followers to ‘delete Spotify,’ using the hashtag.
She becomes the latest artist, along with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Nils Lofgren to ask the streaming platform to remove their music over the row.
This is the second time Rogan has been forced into addressing the controversy publicly, and it appears the pressure is mounting for both Rogan and Spotify.