[Podcasts] Fire Joe Rogan

[JO159]

Joe Rogan is actively spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and endorsing medically harmful treatments. His behavior will cause people to die if it hasn’t already. Given his show is funded by Spotify, this means that Spotify is funding his ability to do this. Not only is it bad morals to support someone who is getting people killed, but it’s bad business as well. I don’t want to do business with a company that supports what Rogan is doing. Please consider terminating his contract so that I can continue to be a Spotify customer.

[Lamech-us]

I agree. Please allow voting on this.

[VisualFixYo]

Deleting my account, long term user of Spotify. This is insanity to cancel Joe Rogan's contract.

[1164210492]

Not to mention him supporting Alex Jones who harassed the grieving parents of DEAD SANDY HOOK CHILDREN. Like, ok, cut him loose already. But I guess if you’re a rich and successful misogynistic white guy you can just never get fired and break all the rules. So cool! I came here for music not some LA baseball mitt HGH face to derp about in vitro studies he didn’t read. 

[Ihateapple]

You people are being ridiculous.  Just because somebody says something you don't agree with, you cannot just cancel them.  Don't listen!  I personally have never listened to a Rogan podcast, but he has the right to think and say what he wants on his own podcast.  Freedom of speech, emulate China much?

[ririsyncyr]

I have already contacted Spotify via a variety of my social media channels. I am also prepared to walk away and take my money elsewhere.

[Samsone]

Rogan never cited anything he said about covid as fact, he said that himself. The man is simply speaking his mind on his own show. Is he not allowed to do so? Is he forcing anyone to inject ivermectin or to not get vaccinated? Can’t you just not listen to his podcast if dont like what he has to say?

Is spotify a chinese company that suppresses free speech?

There is no way spotify is gonna let JRE go. They already paid him 100 million just to come here, which makes it the most expensive and popular podcast in the world. You think they are just gonna fire him and and kiss all that money goodbye just because a vocal minority dont like his opinions? lol

[alex22p22]

For those that saying freedom of speech, should the following should be permitted?

1. An Islamic extremist podcast channel, where they praise (and encourage) terrorist attacks against civilian targets in the USA, Europe and Israel. For example, celebrating the 9/11 attacks and calling for a new 9/11 and similar attacks on other cities.

2. A white supremacist podcast channel, where they praise (and encourage) attacks against blacks, muslims, immigrants, indigenous people and other minority groups. For example, praising the 2019 terrorist attacks in Christchurch New Zealand, where 51 people were killed while they were praying in their mosques, calling for similar attacks in other countries.

3. A Pro-ana channel. For those not familiar with the term, it means the promotion of anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. Pro-ana podcasts and forums promote extreme thinness and offer tips on suppressing hunger pangs and hiding the evidence of missed periods or vomiting spells. The victims, mostly middle class white teen girls, can sometimes die or face life long health problems. There is also a strong correlation between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders, where those who have been abused as children are more inclined to believe they can take control of their bodies through anorexia, bulimia and other extreme methods and are therefore more vulnerable to pro-ana messages.

I'm sure people can think of other examples. Should these be banned, or should they be allowed?

For some people a partial solution might be in this thread, where there you can vote for a request to allow users to hide all podcasts if they wish.

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/All-Platforms-Podcasts-Option-to-disable-or-hide-podcast...

This would mean that users selecting this option get no more Spotify suggestions for podcasts for Joe Rogan or anyone else, unless you want to want to see them.

[Samsone]

I see what you are saying but if you are implying JRE is anywhere near any of those examples, that is absurd. 

There should be a limit on what you can say but the bar needs to be much higher than a person speaking his personal, self-disclaimed non-professional opinion of what he thinks about covid. Its already a polarizing subject in society atm and most people consider it less severe than a flu right now.

I also think there is more to it than just his opinion about Covid. I think a lot of people want JR cancelled because he got such a huge reach and popularity meanwhile holding non-woke, conservative viewpoints that the “progressive” crowd do not like. He also invites a lot of controversial guests on his show, some of which had their episodes banned by spotify which is a disgrace cause i’m pretty sure JR’s contract states a non-interference clause with his content.

Btw, I agree with your suggestion. Let people hide the content they dont like and lets all get on with our lives, listening to what we want to.

[alex22p22]

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@Samsone wrote:

I see what you are saying but if you are implying JRE is anywhere near any of those examples, that is absurd. 

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In most parts of the world where Spotify is available, those examples I gave have killed far less than Covid-19, which has killed more than one in 400 people in some countries.

[leuk0cyte]

It is upsetting that Spotify had to wade into culture wars and health misinformation for profit. They were a wonderful music streaming service, but have now given a megaphone to an **bleep** who spews health misinformation in the midst of a global pandemic. Other social media platforms have realized the fundamental risk to society and their own business by hosting and promoting antivaxxers and COVID denialists, and have reigned them in or blocked them. If Spotify continues to diverge from its core business model of providing music into promoting dangerous and ignorant speech, I can no longer remain a customer, which is a shame as they are very good at the core business of providing convenient streaming music. I look forward to Spotify's response to the many calls for deplatforming Joe Rogan and will make my decision as a customer accordingly. Apple music seems like it is starting to mature as a platform and may now be a viable alternative.

[francesfleming]

Rogan is an A***H***

[Samsone]

Is that somehow supposed to imply JR’s opinion is the cause of so many people dying? As if all those people would not have died no matter what JR’s stance is. I think you are vastly overestimating his influence if you think he caused more deaths than ISIS recruiters.

[alex22p22]

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@Samsone wrote:
Is that somehow supposed to imply JR’s opinion is the cause of so many people dying? As if all those people would not have died no matter what JR’s stance is. I think you are vastly overestimating his influence if you think he caused more deaths than ISIS recruiters.

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Is that meant to be a question for me?

I'd place most of the blame for the death toll, on low quality governments, especially in the UK and the US where they didn't take it seriously in the early phases of the pandemic, when the virus was not too difficult to eliminate (as a number of countries did).

Those large numbers of people didn't need to die.

But I don't know why you'd ever think that Joe Rogan would have little or no influence, but an Islamic extremist channel on Spotify created by some non famous ISIS guy, would be successful in persuading people to carry out acts of terror.

Are you really expecting us to believe that it's easier to persuade people to build and detonate a bomb, than it is to persuade them to stop wearing masks or not get vaccinated?

That just make no sense at all.

[davi-br-br]

The problem with misinformation  is that it is too easy to spread because it relies on emotions and manipulation. Quite differently from the truth. Everybody is free to say whatever they want, but they must take responsibility for what they say and do. Joe Rogan is spreading lies. Being taken off from spotify is not a leftist demand. It is justice. 

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/covid-misinformation-joe-rogan-spotify-petition-12...

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/joe-rogan-causes-more-problems-for-spotify

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/spotify-is-reportedly-taking-down-neil-youngs-music-on-joe-rogan-pod...

https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/jan/06/who-robert-malone-joe-rogans-guest-was-vaccine-sci/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/anti-vaccine-rfk-jr-rally-washington-dc-1289458/

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/08/robert-malone-vaccine-inventor-vaccine-skeptic/6...

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02483-w

[Samsone]

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@alex22p22 wrote:

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@Samsone wrote:
Is that somehow supposed to imply JR’s opinion is the cause of so many people dying? As if all those people would not have died no matter what JR’s stance is. I think you are vastly overestimating his influence if you think he caused more deaths than ISIS recruiters.

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Is that meant to be a question for me?

I'd place most of the blame for the death toll, on low quality governments, especially in the UK and the US where they didn't take it seriously in the early phases of the pandemic, when the virus was not too difficult to eliminate (as a number of countries did).

Those large numbers of people didn't need to die.

But I don't know why you'd ever think that Joe Rogan would have little or no influence, but an Islamic extremist channel on Spotify created by some non famous ISIS guy, would be successful in persuading people to carry out acts of terror.

Are you really expecting us to believe that it's easier to persuade people to build and detonate a bomb, than it is to persuade them to stop wearing masks or not get vaccinated?

That just make no sense at all.

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Fact of the matter is JR is entitled to his own opinion on the matter and is entitled to share it with his followers. He puts a disclaimer on himself, even telling people he is **bleep**ing stupid and isn‘t an expert in any of this stuff. He simply says what his opinion is and how he personally choses to handle the pandemic, how can you take that away from him? How is that manipulation?

He also have had quite a few established doctors and scientists weighing in on the subject who have a different opinion than the government and general masses, are we supposed to censor them too despite their expertise?

You really dont think his listeners got a mind of their own too and can make critical decisions for themselves on weather JRE is a trustworthy source or not?  

If this is how low the bar is gonna be for when we start censoring people, freedom of expression is gonna be a thing of the past soon enough.

[bartciccolini]

Spotify profits from child molester Michael Jackson and gun violence promoting rap artists just off the top of my head. Does that make you angry as well?