Neil Young has reportedly demanded that his music be removed from Spotify over COVID-19 misinformation shared on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Joe Rogan has sparked much controversy over his blatant spread of COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation on his podcast.
In an open letter to his manager and record label that was posted on his Neil Young Archives website, Young stated, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” The post has since been removed from his site.
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In the letter, the singer said he wanted his manager and record label to notify Spotify that he wanted all of his music off of their platform immediately. “Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he added.
Young clarified that his demands stemmed from The Joe Rogan Experience, Spotify’s most popular podcast. Rogan signed a $100M deal with the streaming service last year, giving them exclusive rights to the show. “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify…has tremendous influence,” he said. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform,” he added.
As of Tuesday morning, Young’s music was still available on Spotify.
Last month, around 270 doctors, researchers, and other health care professionals signed an open letter to Spotify, demanding the platform introduce a policy on misinformation. The letter specifically cited Rogan’s history of spreading misinformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals,” the letter stated.
Since signing with Spotify, Rogan has pushed misinformation about masks, vaccines, and the use of ivermectin to combat COVID-19. Rogan claims that he is not “an anti-vax person”, but continues to push his own ideologies.
[Via]