Spotify CEO Daniel Ek earlier this month sent a memo to employees saying the he was “deeply sorry” for how the Rogan controversy has affected them. 8 episode of his podcast, Rogan complained that a viral video compilation of him using the N-word two dozen times was “a political hit job.” Just three days earlier Rogan, in an Instagram post, apologized over the supercut clip of him saying the N-word, calling it “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.” When Rogan contracted Covid-19 in September, he told his 14.6 million Instagram followers he’d taken a drug cocktail that included the drug ivermectin, which the Food and Drug Administration advocates against as a treatment for Covid-19.Over the past month, Rogan has faced a backlash from Spotify users and artists over his use of the N-word in past episodes of his podcast and accusations that Rogan’s show has spread COVID misinformation. Peter McCullough, spreading unsubstantiated claims relating to the pandemic, artists Neal Young, Joni Mitchell and others have removed their music from Spotify in protest. In response to Rogan’s various guests, like Dr. Last month, Spotify added a Covid-19 content warning to Rogan’s show after he and the company faced criticism for promoting misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines.

Key BackgroundĮk released an internal apology letter to its employees last week after older clips of Rogan using racial slurs and other derogatory language resurfaced online, though Ek maintained the company would not be removing Rogan from its platform as “silencing Joe is not the answer.” Spotify removed 113 episodes of Rogan’s podcast from its platform earlier this month-by Rogan’s own decision after consulting with Spotify, according to Bloomberg-with all but one of the episodes airing before the Covid-19 pandemic began. Neither Rogan nor Spotify immediately responded to Forbes’ request for comment on the report.

Spotify joe rogan is said worth