On Wednesday, Spotify said that it was removing Neil Young’s music from its streaming service but hoped to “welcome him back soon.” Young had earlier asked the service to choose between him and Joe Rogen, and they chose Rogen much to the delight of the far-right.
The singer with a “Heart of Gold” had called out the “Joe Rogen Experience” (JRE) in an open letter, on Monday, on his website that has since been deleted. Rolling Stone said that the letter said that they could have “Rogan or Young. Not Both.”
Neil Young has an expansive catalog that spans songs from across over five decades. His first self-titled album was released in 1969 and his newest album is “Barn” released in 2021.
The letter also said that the podcaster had “tremendous influence” on roughly 11 million listeners and that Spotify had a “responsibility” to stop the spread of misinformation. In the letter, Young also thanked Warner Brothers and others for supporting his decision. He also mentioned that he hoped that other labels and artistes would follow suit.
The letter also reportedly criticized the podcaster for spreading misinformation about vaccines and Neil Young is not the first celebrity to speak out against Rogen. YouTuber Ethan Klein faced a lot of trolling from Joe Rogen’s fans when he criticized the podcaster.
America’s infectious diseases expert and President Biden’s adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci has also criticized Rogen as have doctors and other professionals.
Rogen has a huge following on his Joe Rogen Experience podcast. The podcast had often called dubious experts as well as has peddled a lot of false information.
A recent podcast of his was removed by YouTube for flouting guidelines. Rogen has signed an over $100 million deal with Spotify in 2020, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal and his podcast exclusively streams on the service.
