The popular stand-up comedian, dubbed The King of all podcasting, wildly disses getting covid vaccines on his podcast which has a cult following among young people.
Spotify (SPOT) – Get Spotify Technology SA Report is in trouble. Noted commentator and comedian Joe Rogan’s popular “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on audio streaming service Spotify, which has topped the charts since arriving on the platform in September 2020, has sparked tensions within the medical community for promoting baseless conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic.
The episode featuring doctor Robert Malone on Dec. 31, which went viral, has been criticized for pushing anti-vax misinformation. Malone, who had been banned from Twitter for promoting Covid-19 misinformation, reportedly spewed baseless and bizarre lies, blaming “mass formation psychosis” for people who chose to get vaccinated to prevent severe illness from coronavirus.
“He has discouraged vaccination in young people and children, incorrectly claimed that mRNA vaccines are “gene therapy,” promoted off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 (contrary to FDA warnings), and spread a number of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories,” the open letter signed by a coalition of 270 doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators said.
The open letter urged Spotify to take action against the mass-misinformation events on its platform. “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” the community of health professional demanded.
Spotify does not have a misinformation policy and the letter called for the company to make one.
“Spotify prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about Covid-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health. When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform,” the company said in a statement to The Verge last April.
But it has not included a warning label regarding potential misinformation on any podcast episodes of JRE.
Joe Rogan Has a Monster Deal with Spotify
In May 2020, Rogan signed a multiyear exclusive licensing deal for a reported sum of $100 million with Spotify, one of the largest deal in the podcast industry, that would make his podcast free for all of the platform’s 286 million users.
The day the deal was announced, the stock added $1.7 billion to its market cap in 23 minutes, according to The New York Times. During its firs quarter earnings on April of last year, the company said that “The Joe Rogan Experience performed above expectations with respect to new user additions and engagement.”
The former host of “The Fear Factor” said clips of the show would still be available on YouTube, where the show used to stream originally and clocked millions of weekly viewers. The format of the show hasn’t changed since it moved to Spotify.
Controversy’s Favorite Child
Rogan, 54, is known to have both popular—and polarizing—voices.
Last year in April, the MMA color commentator, who loves working out, claimed on his podcast that people who are healthy do not need to take the COVID-19 vaccine. He later clarified though that he is not an anti-vaxxer.
In an April 23, 2021 episode, for instance, Rogan actively discouraged young people from getting the vaccine, saying in a conversation with comedian Dave Smith, “if you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no.’”
He’s courted controversies. The content of Rogan’s show with guest Abigail Shrier was considered anti-transgender by some Spotify employees.
Rogan said that transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox should not fight cisgender female athletes as she may have an unfair physical advantage.
One of the most talked episodes of his podcast was when he smoked marijuana with Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report CEO and billionaire Elon Musk in September 2018.
The podcaster has also been called a racist after he referred to Africa as “Planet of the Apes”.
