Joe Rogan, host of the popular podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ has apologised after a backlash for spreading COVID-19 false news on his show [via Reuters].
Rogan came under fire recently for disseminating falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines on his podcast. The internet personality is a known sceptic of government mandates related to the handling of the global pandemic. While he’s hosted scientists and experts in the past, he regularly plays devils advocate with them.
After continuing with this behaviour in recent episodes, some high profile music artists began to boycott the streaming platform Spotify. Amongst other hosting platforms, much of the Joe Rogan audience listens to him via Spotify. Neil Young and Jon Mitchell announced that they were removing their music from the platform in protest of Spotify supporting Joe Rogan.
Joe Rogan responds
In response to the backlash, Spotify has announced that it will start displaying COVID-19 advisories on podcasts that discuss the topic. This will contain a link to a page that contains verified information about COVID-19, written by medical and health experts. Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek, said, “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.”
Joe Rogan has since apologised for the presentation of COVID-19 on his podcast. In a 10-minute video on Instagram, he said, “If I pissed you off, I’m sorry.
“I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”
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[Featured Image Credit: Joe Rogan/Spotify]