Spotify removes 70 Joe Rogan episodes as he faces heat over use of n-word

[Karlston]

Rogan addresses his repeated use of the n-word and Planet of the Apes comments.

Getty Images | Cindy Ord

Spotify on Friday removed 70 Joe Rogan Experience episodes from 2020 and previous years. Meanwhile, Rogan issued an apology after video showed him saying the n-word on various podcast episodes.

 

The new episode removals weren't related to the COVID misinformation that led Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and others to ask for their music to be pulled from Spotify, which caused a backlash from angry fans. But it was the second big round of Rogan episode removals since Spotify signed the podcast host.

 

"Previously, Spotify had pruned 43 'JRE' episodes from the catalog after the company added Rogan's show in September 2020 under a $100 million exclusive distribution pact. Those included segments with right-wing figures such as Infowars' Alex Jones, Gavin McInnes and Milo Yiannopoulos and also episodes with comedians," according to Variety.

 

The episodes removed Friday "featured guests including podcaster, actor and comedian Marc Maron, LGBTQ activist and author Dan Savage, political commentator Kyle Kulinski, and comedians Bill Burr, Tom Segura, Iliza Shlesinger, Theo Von, Brian Redban, Rich Vos, and Pete Holmes," Variety wrote.

 

We contacted Spotify about the episode removals today and will update this article if we get a response. A website called JRE Missing uses the Spotify API to track which Joe Rogan Experience episodes that have been pulled. It says a total of 113 episodes are gone from Spotify, which would include the 70 pulled Friday and the 43 that were previously taken down.

Malone episode still on Spotify

Rogan's controversial episode featuring Dr. Robert Malone is still on Spotify. Malone "was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19" and "used the JRE platform to further promote numerous baseless claims, including several falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and an unfounded theory that societal leaders have 'hypnotized' the public," stated a recent open letter to Spotify signed by hundreds of scientists, professors, doctors, and healthcare workers.

 

The most recent Rogan episode that was pulled was originally published in April 2020 and features Chris D'elia, who was subsequently accused of sexually harassing underage girls. All previous episodes that were pulled are from February 2019 or earlier.

 

BBC's "Reality Check" team last week pointed out several falsehoods from Rogan's COVID-themed episodes, such as Rogan saying, "This is not a vaccine, this is essentially a gene therapy."

India Arie calls out Rogan over n-word use

Grammy-winning musician India Arie asked to have her music pulled from Spotify and shared a video of Rogan saying the n-word on his podcast numerous times. "I empathize with the people who are leaving Spotify for the COVID misinformation reasons, and I think that they should," Arie said. Objecting to Spotify's lucrative payments to Rogan, she said, "Spotify is built on the back of the music streaming, so they take this money that's built from streaming and pay this guy $100 million—but they pay us .003 percent of a penny. Just take me off."

 

Rogan "shouldn’t even be uttering the word,” Arie also said, according to Deadline. "Don’t even say it, under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there."

 

A February 2019 Twitter thread shows video of Rogan talking about seeing a Planet of the Apes film in a movie theater populated primarily by non-white people. "We walk into Planet of the Apes. We walked into Africa, dude. We walked in the door and there was no white people, there was no white people," he said.

 

In another clip, Rogan spoke to a guest who has parents of different skin colors. "Powerful combination, genetic-wise, right?" Rogan said. "You get the body of the black man and then you get the mind of the white man all together in some strange combination... that doesn't, by the way, mean that black people don't have brains. It's a different brain. Don't get me wrong."

Rogan addresses n-word and Planet of the Apes story

Rogan today posted a video on Instagram discussing and apologizing for some of his comments. "There's a video that's out that's a compilation of me saying the n-word. It's a video that's made of clips taken out of context of me of 12 years of conversations on my podcast and it's all smushed together and it looks fucking horrible, even to me," Rogan said. "To most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now."

 

Rogan said he used the word when talking about comedians who used it decades ago, such as Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, and Lenny Bruce. He also discussed how he's come to accept that white people shouldn't use the word:

 

If a white person says that word, it's racist and toxic. But a Black person can use it and it can be a punch line, it can be a term of endearment, it can be lyrics to a rap song, it can be a positive affirmation. It's a very unusual word, but it's not my word to use. I'm well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner. I never used it to be racist because I'm not racist. but whenever you're in a situation where you have to say, 'I'm not racist,' you fucked up, and I clearly have fucked up.

 

"I do hope that this can be a teachable moment for anybody that doesn't realize how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person's mouth, in context or out of context," he said, while offering "my sincere, deepest apologies."

 

Rogan also addressed the Planet of the Apes story, saying, "I did not nor would I ever say that black people were apes, but it sure fucking sounded like that... I went on to talk about what a positive experience it was and how much fun it was to go and see this movie in a black neighborhood. It wasn't a racist story but it sounded terrible." Rogan said he deleted that podcast, which is from 11 years ago, but it was resurfaced later.

 

Rogan's new video didn't discuss the "body of the black man and... mind of the white man" comment. Rogan addressed the controversy over his COVID episodes previously, calling them "just conversations."

Spotify CEO: “We take the appropriate enforcement actions”

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spoke to employees about Rogan in a town hall on Wednesday, and audio was leaked to The Verge.

 

"It is important to note that we do not have creative control over Joe Rogan's content," Ek said. "We don't approve his guests in advance, and just like any other creator, we get his content when he publishes, and then we review it, and if it violates our policies, we take the appropriate enforcement actions. This is not an unusual position at all in the media industry. It's the same actually we have with our licensed music content. And it's the same approach with other podcasters, like Dax Shepard and Brené Brown, too."

 

"There are a number of Joe Rogan episodes that you won't find on Spotify because [they are] in violation of our rules," Ek said. It is "not the case" that Spotify executives "endorse every word" that Rogan says, Ek also said. "There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive. But let me go back to what I said earlier, if you want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with. Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad."

 

While Rogan remains on Spotify, the company did remove the Stew Peters' show for violating its policy against COVID misinformation late last year.

 

 

Spotify removes 70 Joe Rogan episodes as he faces heat over use of n-word