She recently shared that she would be removing her music from Spotify due to her feelings regarding the platform's partnership with Joe Rogan and now, India Arie is sharing more about her decision. Several artists have come forward this week with statements about The Joe Rogan Experience and their grievances with the podcast sharing misinformation about COVID and the vaccines.
Artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have sparked a protest of sorts against Spotify, and Arie added her name to the list—but not because of COVID. The award-winning Neo-soul singer stated that Rogan's comments about race have disturbed her and Spotify's viewed approval of his language has resulted in her taking drastic steps.
Arie returned to not only double down on her stance but to share several clips of Rogan on his podcast referring to Black neighborhoods as "Planet of the Apes" and carelessly saying "n*gger" on-air in several episodes.
"He shouldn't even be uttering the word. Don't even say it, under any context. Don't say it. That's where I stand. I have always stood there," said the singer, before she explained that Spotify reached out to her to ask what she wanted. Arie claimed that the platform admitted that most of its streams are from Black artists, so she questioned why they would pay a fraction of a cent to artists while giving Rogan a $100 million deal.
Additionally, she said she has been against Rogan for some time, but it wasn't until Neil Young voiced his ire and removed his music from Spotify that she was able to come forward with her complaints. Meanwhile, Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek recently stated no one creator can make the platform change its policies.
Check out India Arie's video below as well as Rogan's n-word moments on his podcast.