Long-time UFC commentator and influential podcaster Joe Rogan has become a political figure during the last two years. While Rogan is loved by MMA fans – he’s hated by a lot of main stream media personalities. Canadian-American rockstar Neil Young is likely in the 2nd column.
Young recently posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding to remove his music from Spotify unless the massive streaming service ditch Joe Rogan’s massive podcast Joe Rogan Experience.
He wrote a since deleted letter accusing Rogan’s famous podcast of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,”
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE [the Joe Rogan Experience] which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” he wrote.
“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy,” he continued.
The 76-year old also threatened the streaming service to choose between him or Rogan
. “I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform … They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”.
The complaint about Rogan’s vaccine stance was not from Young alone. Earlier this month, a group of 270 scientists, professors, doctors, and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify to express concern about “false and societally harmful assertions” made on The Joe Rogan Experience.
The letter cited an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience when Rogan interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist who worked on early research into the mRNA technology behind several COVID-19 vaccines.
Spotify itself hasn’t made any comment regarding Young’s demands and as of today, Young’s catalog still remains on Spotify.