SPOTIFY’S head honcho is standing behind Joe Rogan after the star U.S. podcaster became embroiled in another online firestorm over the weekend.
Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek said yesterday he “strongly” condemns racial slurs and other comments made by the controversial comedian but will not be removing him from the platform.
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However, 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast were quietly deleted earlier on Sunday in a further sign of Spotify’s confused stance on the policing of content on its platform.
Ek’s comments, sent in a letter to staff, come on the heels of Rogan, 54, issuing a mea culpa for the second time in a week.
The latest apology was for his use of racial slurs after a montage video surfaced on social media showing him repeatedly using the N-word.
Ek said it was Rogan’s decision to remove a number of past episodes following discussions with the music streaming platform and his own reflections on some of the content in the show, including the usage of racially insensitive language.
“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said… I want to make one point very clear I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek said.
The 38-year-old Swede reiterated his stance on Spotify’s content moderation policies and said that he believes the company should have clear boundaries around the content being published.
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The company should take action when they are crossed, but he cautioned that cancelling voices is a slippery slope.
The company will also commit $100million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalized groups.
The cash will be used to elevate creators from a diversity of backgrounds, according to the letter, which was confirmed by a Spotify spokesperson.
Rogan is the world’s most popular podcaster with more than 11million listeners per episode.
The host signed a deal with Spotify last year worth a reported $100million that gives the platform exclusive rights to distribute his show.
Artist India Arie posted a compilation of the podcaster frequently using the n-word on his podcast.
The clip quickly went viral, with furious critics on Twitter branding the comments “vile” and “disgusting”.
Some called for the comedian’s removal from the platform, while others defended his actions and Spotify’s decision to defend him.
In his apology, Rogan had said the montage showed him using the epithet in conversations on shows over the last 12 years, and included examples of him discussing its use by black and white comedians and others.
“There’s been a lot of s**t from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had said differently. This is my take on the worst of it,” Rogan said.
Regarding his use of the N-word, Rogan called it the “most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”
“It’s not my word to use. I am well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner.
“I never used it to be racist because I’m not racist.”
A mixed martial arts commentator and a prominent vaccine skeptic, Rogan has courted controversy with his views on COVID-19 vaccines, the pandemic and government mandates to control the spread of the virus.
Prominent singer-songwriters including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell said that they were removing their music from Spotify in protest at coronavirus misinformation broadcast on the platform.
The backlash against COVID-19 misinformation on the streaming service wiped more than $2billion off its market value last week.
Spotify has said it would add a “content advisory” to any episode with discussion of COVID-19.
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In other news, a four-tonne chunk of a SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the Moon, according to online space junk trackers.
Boeing has sunk $450million into a flying taxi startup that hopes to whisk passengers across cities by the end of the decade.
Personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.
And, scientists are embarking on a mission to unravel the mystery behind dozens of grisly child mummies buried in an underground tomb in Sicily.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
