Many on social media are debating over whether Joe Rogan should be canceled for spreading coronavirus misinformation and using racial slurs. But who is Joe Rogan? Rogan launched one of the most popular podcasts in the world titled, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” attracting millions of listeners per episode. Recently, some episodes were taken down by Spotify, as more and more artists took issue with the streaming service for allowing the controversial podcaster to propagate deceptions about the coronavirus and use offensive language.
Many famous artists such as Neil Young asked Spotify to remove their music in protest. Niel Young added that Spotify was “spreading fake information about vaccines and potentially causing death to those who believe this misinformation.” The deceptions that were spread from his show caused panic amongst his followers who were easily influenced to believe vaccine misinformation.
Further, videos showing Joe Rogan arguing that people should be allowed to use the N-word in the “correct context” have gone viral. He used a whole host of other racial and ethnic slurs on a 2017 episode of his podcast that many people found extremely offensive when it came into public view. Later on, Rogan apologized for his past use of the N-word in a video posted on his Instagram account. In his apology, Rogan said his use of the slur was “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”
Clearly, Joe Rogan has endangered people’s lives by spreading false information. He also offended many listeners by his use of his racial slurs. Many viewed Rogan as “careless” and “selfish”.
Why did Spotify allow Rogan to stay on their platform? The CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek does not like or support the idea of Rogan saying the N-word, but he remains firm in his decision to keep the podcaster on the platform in order to elevate all types of content creators. Since his podcast is one of the “most listened” across the world, Spotify cannot afford to cancel it. According to Forbes, Joe Rogan’s podcast income was $30M in 2019. When Spotify brought ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ onto their platform, they knew they would get a huge flood of new users and attract more advertisers. If the podcast is canceled, it is guaranteed that Spotify will lose a lot of money.
Due to increasing public pressure and various musicians’ protests, over 113 of his episodes have been taken down. Consumers have to be careful about getting any information from Joe Rogan. They need to make sure that they fact-check the information with experts and professionals and not just blindly follow such influencers.
Article by Ayza Siddiqi of Hallie Wells Middle School
Photo courtesy of Joe Rogan