Spotify Quietly Removed SEVENTY (70) Episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' After A Clip of Him Repeatedly Saying The N-Word Went Viral
You'll see plenty of pieces online either defending or lambasting Joe Rogan. I'm not here to do either. Not because I don't care about that part of the discussion, I just don't feel the need to add to the pile after he owned his dumbass fuck up and didn't run from it. I would very much like to lambaste the people who did run from it like absolute cowards, Spotify.
What a bunch of cowards. Spotify had no problem profiting off of those episodes until this clip went viral. It's also important to note that this is the second time this clip went viral. The first was when he endorsed Bernie Sanders two years ago. Which was also five months before Rogan signed with Spotify. So, if it never went viral for a second time, if those soundbites lived forever inside those episodes constantly reaping the benefits of revenue from their streams and subscription base, they absolutely never would have removed them. They didn't bring over every episode in the first place, but these 70 still made the cut. I still don't know why they removed them? Is that their apology? Is that their way of owning their negligence? Because either they knew about it and didn't care at all, or they didn't know and are openly admitting to be as incompetent as they appear. I'm leaning the latter. They saw the biggest podcast in the world, did exactly zero homework, salivated over the profits to be gained by acquiring that show, and kept adding zeroes to their offer until Rogan agreed. Now they find themselves making headlines every other day for some new horror they never dreamt when this deal was signed.
Spotify continues to be reactionary, always one step behind never once ahead of the curve. They have no vision. They lack the spine and moral fortitude to either stand up for their guy or cut their losses. This sitting on the fence shit makes them look worse by the minute. It's not shocking that a tech conglomerate has no scruples, it will always shock me how fucking incompetent some of the richest among us truly are. Like how did you get this far in the first place? How was Spotify able to compete with Apple for so long on the streaming front with utter morons running the show? It's one thing for a singular artist like Neil Young to remove his catalog from Spotify, what happens when entire record labels decide they don't want to deal with them anymore?
Rogan fucked up. He's an adult and it appears he's dealing with that fuck up. No one's making excuses for him, he's not "canceled," none of that. Spotify, however, can't stop fucking up and I have no idea why anyone would bet on them righting their ship anytime soon.