Podcaster Joe Rogan responds to podcast controversy

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Podcaster Joe Rogan posted a video to Instagram late Sunday night vowing to ‘balance things out’ in response to the controversy surrounding his podcast, which has been criticized for spreading COVID-19 misinformation that has prompted music legends to remove their hit songs from Spotify. 

Following protests of Spotify kicked off by Neil Young, the music streaming service said that it will add content advisories before podcasts discussing the virus.

In the 10-minute video posted Sunday, Rogan responded to the fallout saying that he was only seeking to have conversations on his podcast with people who have ‘differing opinions.’   

‘If I pissed you off, I’m sorry,’ he added. 

‘It’s a strange responsibility to have this many viewers and listeners. It’s nothing that I’ve prepared for. I’m going to do my best to balance things out.’  

Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek laid out more transparent platform rules earlier Sunday given the backlash stirred by Young, who on Wednesday had his music removed from Spotify after the streaming giant declined to get rid of episodes of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’ its highest rated show.

‘Personally, there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly,’ wrote Ek. ‘It is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.’

Ek said that the advisories will link to Spotify’s fact-based COVID-19 hub in what he described as a ‘new effort to combat misinformation.’ 

It will roll out in the coming days, Ek said. He did not specifically reference Rogan or Young.

Rogan then broke his silence. 

‘I’m not trying to promote misinformation, I’m not trying to be controversial,’ Rogan said. ‘I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people.’

 He also said that he schedules the guests on his podcast himself, and that he would try to book doctors with different opinions right after he talks to ‘the controversial ones.’ 

Rogan noted that he earlier sat down on the show with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the chief medical correspondent for CNN, Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is a member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, and Dr. Peter Hotez from Baylor College of Medicine. 

Rogan additionally welcomed the idea of adding advisories before podcasts related to COVID-19.  

‘Personally, there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly,’ wrote Ek. ‘It is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.’ 

In the video, Rogan went on to say podcasts are just conversations and said he has no idea what he’s going to talk about until he sits down with people.   

‘That’s why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out because I’m literally having them in real time, but I do my best and they’re just conversations, and I think that’s also the appeal of the show,’ he said.

‘It’s one of the things that makes it interesting. So I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I’m very sorry that this is happening to them and that they’re taking so much from it.’  

Spotify shared its new ‘platform rules and approach’ Sunday, hours after it was revealed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were worried about pandemic-related misinformation shared via the outlet. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – who inked a $25 million deal with Spotify – said they have reached out to the music streaming giant to ‘express our concerns’ about Rogan’s podcast.

The couple shared their objections as Spotify faced an exodus of talent including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren.  Podcaster Brené Brown said she is ‘pausing’ her channel and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl is also rumored to be leaving the platform.  

Young after leaving the platform attempted to lure fans toward Amazon Music, offering a free four-month subscription to new users. 

Spotify said the pressure it faced in recent weeks prompted it to reevaluate – and ultimately change – its policies. It said while it would not ‘take on the position of a content censor,’ it would enforce the rules.

‘It’s become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely-accepted information from the medical and scientific communities guiding us through this unprecedented time,’ Spotify’s chief executive Daniel Ek said in an online statement. ‘These issues are incredibly complex.’

Ek said his company is working to add a content advisory to all podcast episodes that discuss Covid.

‘This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources,’ he said.

‘This new effort to combat misinformation will roll out to countries around the world in the coming days. To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform.’

He said his team is also exploring ways to  promote its platform rules so that content creators better understand the expectations.

‘We take this seriously and will continue to partner with experts and invest heavily in our platform functionality and product capabilities for the benefit of creators and listeners alike,’ Ek said. ‘That doesn’t mean that we always get it right, but we are committed to learning, growing and evolving.’ 

Despite their concerns, the Sussexes have not split with the firm, instead saying they were ‘committed to continuing our work together’ as it addressed their issues.

A spokesman for the Sussexes said: ‘Since the inception of [their non-profit organisation] Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis.

‘Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of mis- and disinformation every day.

‘Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of Covid misinformation on its platform.

‘We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.

‘We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.’  

Bruce Springsteen guitarist and Neil Young bandmate Nils Lofgren also became the latest musician to take his solo work off the streaming service today.

He wrote in Young’s newsletter that he was joining his bandmate in ‘standing with hundreds of health care professionals, scientists, doctors and nurses’ in criticising Spotify over its role in ‘promoting lies and misinformation’ regarding Covid. 

His announcement comes as Spotify faces an exodus of talent as Brené Brown and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl were also rumoured to be following Neil Young and Joni Mitchell off the platform. 

Spotify announced the partnership with the Sussexes’ Archewell Audio in December 2020 as they wanted to ‘elevate underrepresented voices’.

But aside from a 33-minute ‘holiday special’ that month there has been a deafening silence.

After the deal resulted in only one show being streamed, it is advertising for in-house staff to cover ‘every step’ of the process. 

The latest move follows Harry and Meghan adding two more ‘entertainment’ companies to their growing business empire in Delaware.

The pair, who stepped back from royal duty last year, are setting up a complex network of companies all based in the opaque tax haven state.

Spotify had said it expected the first ‘complete series’ from Archewell Audio in 2021, but has since given no further updates.

In July, Archewell hired an experienced podcast producer, Rebecca Sananes, and confirmed it was ‘looking forward to sharing more content later in 2021’. 

Now Spotify is hiring producers through its podcast arm, Gimlet, to work with Archewell Audio. 

The jobs are being offered to applicants on six-month contracts based in Los Angeles. 

One advert for a senior producer role read: ‘We’re currently assembling a show team that will build and launch a new original show with Archewell featuring the voices of high-profile women.

‘The ideal candidate has experience working with high-profile talent, and an interest in the intersection of social activism and popular culture.’

It comes as Spotify faces a mass exodus of stars including Brown, 56, and Foo Fighters’ Grohl, 53, after Young and Mitchell ditched the platform.

Mitchell joined Young in removing her music from Spotify in protest against their promotion of Rogan‘s vaccine-sceptic views.

Young has lashed out at the outlet for hosting The Joe Rogan Experience on its site.

Brown said on Saturday she would not be producing more episodes of her Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead podcasts ‘until further notice’.

She tweeted: ‘I will not be releasing any podcasts until further notice. To our #UnlockingUs and #DaretoLead communities, I’m sorry and I’ll let you know if and when that changes. Stay awkward, brave, and kind.’

She did not indicate why she was no longer releasing episodes, but Brown hosts her podcasts exclusively on Spotify.

Brown is the author of six New York Times bestsellers – The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, Dare of Lead and Atlas of the Heart – and is known for her research on vulnerability, shame and leadership.

It has also been speculated Grohl might follow suit, but so far that just remains a rumour.

The group was trending on Twitter on Saturday, and users noted that the band’s frontman could ‘kill Spotify with ‘I’m out.”

User @WorldbeCray noted: ‘If Dave Grohl pulls Foo Fighters from Spotify, they are f****** _through._’

Spotify has lost $4 billion of its value thus far in 2022, losing 25 percent of its stock value last week.

Mitchell, 78, said she was standing ‘in solidarity’ with Young who demanded Spotify take down his songs unless the it stops carrying The Joe Rogan Experience.

The Big Yellow Taxi hitmaker said the streaming giant was allowing ‘irresponsible people’ to spread lies that were ‘costing people their lives’. 

Mitchell shared an open letter signed by medical professionals calling on Spotify to take action against ‘mass-misinformation events’ occurring on its platform.

‘I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,’ Mitchell said in a statement on her official website.

‘Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.’

The open letter made reference to a specific episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, released on December 31, 2021, in which ‘baseless conspiracy theories’ were promoted.

‘By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals,’ the letter said.

‘This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform.

‘We, the undersigned doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators thus call on Spotify to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.’

It comes as Young praised Spotify’s rival Amazon Music and offered his fans four months free on the streaming platform.

The musician said Amazon was ‘leading the pack’ in high quality audio production and encouraged fans to use the service to access his entire catalogue.

The streaming giant said it ‘regretted’ Young’s decision and hoped to welcome him back soon.

Young continued his crusade on Friday, publishing an open letter on his personal website, which opened with the words: ‘When I left SPOTIFY, I felt better.’ 

The outspoken recording artist alleged that Spotify degrades the quality of sound by 95 per cent so it could carry more content. 

‘AMAZON, APPLE MUSIC and Qobuz deliver up to 100% of the music today and it sounds a lot better than the s****y degraded and neutered sound of SPOTIFY,’ Young fumed. ‘If you support SPOTIFY, you are destroying an art form.’

Turning his attention to his row with Rogan over the podcaster’s negative views on COVID vaccination, Young wrote: ‘I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information.

In response to Young’s ultimatum, Spotify has agreed to remove his songs from its platform, where the singer had 2.4 million followers and over six million monthly listeners. 

‘We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators,’ the streaming company’s representative told Variety. 

‘We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.’ 

It comes after Apple Music made a dig at Spotify by bragging that it was ‘the home of Neil Young‘.

A day after Spotify announced that it will comply with Young’s demand to remove his records from the sharing platform, Apple Music tweeted on Thursday night: ‘The home of Neil Young. Listen to his entire catalog on Apple Music.’

The tweet featured a link offering access to Young’s ‘artist’ page on Apple Music’s website and a slideshow showcasing the prolific musician’s many album covers. 

On Apple Music’s app, the streaming service went out of its way to tout Young’s playlists and albums under the banner ‘We Love Neil.’  

Spotify acquired The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2020, reportedly for more than 100 million dollars (£77million).

Stand-up comedian Rogan, 54, has previously attracted controversy for suggesting the young and healthy should not get vaccinated.   

Is Meghan set to relaunch her lifestyle blog The Tig? Duchess seeks to reactivate the trademark for her ‘passion project’

It was once filled with her favourite recipes, candid holiday snaps, inspirational words of wisdom and gushing eulogies to her parents.

When Meghan Markle closed down her lifestyle blog The Tig in April 2017 before announcing her engagement to Prince Harry later that year, she described it as a ‘passion project’ that ‘evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity’.

Now the Duchess of Sussex has applied to reactivate ‘The Tig’ trademark name – a move likely to raise hope among her fans that she might one day consider bringing her blog back to life.

Publicly available records in America show Los Angeles lawyer Marjorie Witter Norman filed a new application to trademark the name in July last year.

Meghan launched the blog in 2014 when she was an actress in the legal drama Suits and named the site after her favourite Tignanello wine. 

Recalling her first sip, she wrote: ‘It was an ah-ha moment at its finest. For me it became a ‘Tig’ moment – a moment of getting it.’

Miss Witter Norman filed the trademark application under a Delaware-based holding company called Frim Fram Inc, which links back to the Duchess’s business manager Andrew Meyer.

A similar application filed in 2019 would have expired last year. 

At the time her representative said: ‘The lasting trademark is to prevent false branding, to avoid others purporting to be the Duchess or affiliated with her.’ 

Meghan used the original Tig website – parts of which can still be found online – to share her views on everything from feminism to her passion for philanthropy.

In an article entitled ‘The birthday suit’, she discussed body confidence with a photo of herself appearing to pose nude.

She often praised her mother Doria Ragland, a yoga therapist who was the only member of her family at her wedding, and father Thomas Markle, from whom she remains estranged.

An avid foodie, she also shared recipes and interviews with friends including tennis star Serena Williams and actress Priyanka Chopra.

Should she ever relaunch the blog – or start a new one – it could be worth a fortune through partnerships with fashion, food and beauty brands, according to a Hollywood marketing expert.