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Spotify seems to have got rid of kind of 70 episodes of the Joe Rogan Revel in podcast as movies of its host the use of racial slurs in previous presentations unfold on social media. The scoop comes amid a musician-led protest of Spotify over permitting Rogan’s podcast to unfold COVID-19 incorrect information.
This week, Grammy-winning singer India.Arie, who has pulled her catalog from Spotify, shared a compilation video by means of Instagram that presentations Rogan uttering a racial slur on a lot of previous episodes of his display. She stated that clips may also be taken out of context however mentioned Rogan should not be the use of such slurs beneath any instances. She additionally posted a message pronouncing Rogan used to be problematic now not simply on account of his COVID interviews but in addition on account of “his language round race.”
The podcast host, who in 2020 inked a deal reportedly price greater than $100 million to distribute his display solely on Spotify, took to Instagram in a single day to ask for forgiveness. “I without a doubt wasn’t looking to be racist,” Rogan mentioned, “and I without a doubt would by no means need to offend any individual for leisure with one thing as silly as racism.” Rogan mentioned he concurs he should not use such slurs, irrespective of the context.
The apology got here in a while after a fan-made web site discovered that kind of 70 episodes of the podcast had been not to be had on Spotify. The web site, JREMissing, makes use of Spotify’s API to check to be had episodes to a database of all episodes recorded.
Spotify has in the past excluded episodes of the podcast for violating its content material insurance policies. CNET cannot ascertain a hyperlink between the these days circulating movies and the disappearance of the episodes. Neither Spotify nor Rogan answered to requests for remark.
In his apology video, Rogan does say that sooner or later he deleted one explicit podcast episode over what he known as an idiotic and racist statement he’d clumsily made. And on Saturday, Bloomberg cited an nameless supply in reporting that Spotify took down dozens of episodes of the podcast after Rogan made the verdict following a dialog with the corporate.
The brand new controversy and obvious removals come amid broader worry about Rogan’s podcast serving as a platform for COVID incorrect information. Rocker Neil Younger and people icon Joni Mitchell pulled their song from Spotify after an open letter signed by way of greater than 250 clinical pros, researchers and professors pointed to the podcast as proof the streaming provider used to be aiding within the promotion of incorrect information.
CEO Daniel Ek has defended the inclusion of Rogan at the corporate’s roster and instructed a corporate the city corridor that the podcast used to be essential to Spotify’s luck.
“If we wish even a shot at attaining our daring ambitions, it is going to imply having content material on Spotify that many people is probably not proud to be related to,” Ek mentioned all through the city corridor. “Now not anything else is going, however there shall be evaluations, concepts and ideology that we disagree with strongly or even makes us indignant or unhappy.”
