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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek showed greater than 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Enjoy had been got rid of from the streaming carrier, consistent with a document from The Verge revealed on Sunday. The corporate CEO added that Rogan was once integral within the resolution to presentations’ removing.
An organization memo from Ek to staff stated Spotify spoke with Rogan and his crew referring to “racially insensitive language” content material within the earlier episodes. The comic “selected to take away various episodes from Spotify” Ek mentioned within the memo.
“No longer handiest are a few of Joe Rogan’s feedback extremely hurtful — I need to shed light on that they don’t constitute the values of this corporate,” Ek wrote within the memo acquired via The Verge. “We must have transparent strains round content material and take motion when they’re crossed, however cancelling voices is a slippery slope.”
Ek went on to mention within the memo that Spotify will commit $100 million for extra track and audio content material from creators from marginalized teams. This was once an identical quantity Spotify paid Rogan in 2020 for unique rights to his display.
Rogan posted an apology on Saturday after Spotify gave the impression to have got rid of 71 podcast episodes, after movies of the comic the use of racial slurs unfold on social media. The occasions come amid a musician-led protest of the streaming carrier for permitting Rogan’s podcast to unfold COVID-19 incorrect information.
Previous this week, Grammy-winning singer India Arie, who has pulled her catalog from Spotify, shared a compilation video of Rogan uttering a racial slur on a large number of previous episodes. Posted to Instagram, the musician stated Rogan should not be the use of such slurs underneath any circumstance, however said clips may also be taken out of context. She additionally posted a message announcing Rogan was once problematic as a result of “his language round race,” in addition to COVID subject material.
The podcast host took to Instagram early Saturday to ask for forgiveness. “I indubitably wasn’t seeking to be racist,” Rogan stated, “and I indubitably would by no means need to offend any individual for leisure with one thing as silly as racism.” Rogan agreed he should not use such slurs, irrespective of the context.
Learn extra: Spotify may not ax Joe Rogan until Unhealthy Bunny or The Weeknd protests too
The apology got here in a while after a fan-made web site discovered episodes of the podcast had been not to be had on Spotify. The web site, JREMissing, makes use of Spotify’s API to match to be had episodes to a database of all episodes recorded.
Spotify has up to now excluded episodes of the podcast for violating its content material insurance policies. CNET could not verify a hyperlink between the recently circulating movies and the disappearance of the episodes. Neither Spotify nor Rogan spoke back to requests for remark.
In his apology video, Rogan says that he deleted one explicit podcast episode over what he referred to as an idiotic and racist commentary he’d clumsily made. 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.
This new spherical of controversy comes amid ongoing worry that Rogan’s podcast serves as a platform for COVID incorrect information. Rocker Neil Younger and people icon Joni Mitchell pulled their track from Spotify after an open letter signed via greater than 250 scientific pros, researchers and professors pointed to the podcast as proof the streaming carrier was once selling incorrect information.
CEO Daniel Ek has defended the inclusion of Rogan at the corporate’s roster and instructed a corporate the town corridor that the podcast was once essential to Spotify’s luck.
“If we would like even a shot at reaching 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 stated all through the city corridor. “No longer the rest is going, however there can be evaluations, concepts and ideology that we disagree with strongly or even makes us offended or unhappy.”
