Today Canadian musician Neil Young has threatened to pull his music from Spotify over Joe Rogan’s vaccine misinformation.
“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,”
-Neil Young, in a since deleted letter to his managment team and record label
The World Health Organization has termed the infodemic, an overabundance of information, some accurate, some not – that spread alongside a disease outbreak. Sure, there have always been conspiracies, but in a time of such uncertainty, misinformation has entered a new scope.
Whether it be that masks are suffocating us, or vaccines altering our DNA, people are scared and they need somewhere to point their finger, and right now it’s public health measures.
Joe Rogan is a public figure with a mass following. Joe Rogan Experience has an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, making it the world’s largest podcast.
Rogan has run the gamut in controversies,
- A Twitter user posted a video compilation of Rogan using the N-word in various episodes of JRE from over the years.
- Rogan made a racist comparison between a Black neighbourhood and “Planet of the Apes.”
- Numerous Transphobic remarks;
on trans-MMA fighter Fallon Fox:
“She calls herself a woman but… I tend to disagree,”
“And, uh, she, um… she used to be a man… You’re a f**king man… You’re a man without a d**k.”
- Hosting Abigail Shrier, promoting her book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
- Hosting (and being buddy-buddy with) controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
- Practically hosting anyone, no matter how offensive and profits off of their outlandish statements, that Rogan lets slide unchallenged.
@bestofpodcasts Thoughts on FAT models?? #joerogan #podcast #discussion #humour #podcastnation #darkhumour #podcastreccomendation #joeroganfamily #joeroganpodcast
The list goes on…
In 2020, Joe Rogan signed a $100 million contract with the streaming service, meaning that listeners could only tune into the podcast on Spotify. This is a fantastic financial move for Spotify. According to BusinessInsider, ‘JRE’ brings in 4.5% of all the podcast listeners to the service.
Since then, celebrities, doctors, and even Spotify employees have spoken out against the podcast and Rogan’s controversial views. Notably, his frequent questioning of COVID-19 vaccines on his show.
In December 2021, 270 doctors, physicians, and science educators petitioned to stop Rogan’s baseless COVID-19 misinformation in an open letter to Spotify, after his highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone.
“I’m not a doctor, I’m a bleeping moron,”
-Joe Rogan
Neil Young made his opinion on Rogan very clear today, “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” in response to the misleading and false claims JRE spreads on COVID-19.
Young, a polio survivor, can personally attest to the success of vaccines; polio has been eliminated from the US due to the widespread vaccination against it.
Many believe Spotify is enabling the podcast and its damage to public trust in scientific research and data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals. “false information about vaccines being spread — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” Young states this misguidance is costing lives.
In the summer of 2021, after advocating against vaccines, Rogan tested positive for COVID-19. However, this didn’t change his tune. He took to social media to share that he recovered from COVID-19 because of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug. Only further pushing his anti-vax claims. He insists the ivermectin, a horse deworming drug, cured him, presenting no evidence. It’s ironic that people won’t take a World Health Organization (WHO) approved vaccine, but will happily pop a horse dewormer.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned against taking the drug to treat COVID-19, and that has repeatedly been shown as ineffective in clinical trials.
Similar to Donald Trump recommending Americans inject bleach into their body as a means of fighting COVID-19.
Joe Rogan feels silenced for having a “straight white male perspective.”
“It keeps going. It keeps going further and further and further down the line, and if you get to the point where you capitulate, where you agree to all these demands, it’ll eventually get to, straight white men are not allowed to talk.”
The highest-paid and most-listened-to podcaster states in one of his many 3-hour long episodes, that straight white men are being silenced by ‘woke’ culture, even claiming that straight white men would eventually no longer be “allowed to go outside.”
The podcast’s viewership is primarily men (71%) under the age of 30 (av. 24) along with 88% of Rogan’s guests being men, according to a MediaMonitors survey in 2020.
Rogan has a large influence on his audience. A survey commissioned by The Washington Post revealed that Rogan’s listeners were significantly less likely to get vaccinated than those who do not regularly listen, with an 18% lower intent in February 2021.
Joe Rogan is a figurehead of the ‘men’s online world’, another notable frontman being Canadian, Jordan Peterson. Both these public figures, promote discipline and bettering oneself. They validate anxieties and fears in men and offer them hope. Notably, the growing fear amongst men in the 21st century is the ‘shameful anxiety’ related to ‘decaying white male privileges.’
Unfortunately, the role models mentioned, direct their anxieties at the ills of ‘political correctness.’ Only furthering the divide. The sentiment is there, and men deserve to be heard and speak freely about their emotions. It’s just disheartening to see Joe Rogan being idolized just because he’s willing to discuss fringe ideas and quite frankly, be offensive to everyone other than white straight men.
Men have no other outlets in mainstream media to speak about subjects they want and in the way they want to
(The 3 Reasons Why Men are Obsessed with Joe Rogan, Written by Will Zolpe)
The issue here is, at what point has Joe gone too far? I agree with discussing taboo topics and emotional vulnerabilities, but if you’re putting down another group in the process of liberating yourself, you’re not going to get my respect.
Joe Rogan argues that white straight men are being silenced, and his solution to that is to encourage men to exercise their privilege without accountability.
https://twitter.com/dhlovelife/status/1485824787591032833?s=20
I don’t think Joe Rogan Experience will be removed from Spotify anytime soon. Until he stops making Spotify millions of dollars, we must say goodbye to Heart of Gold by Neil Young.