Source: Tim Mosenfelder / Getty
Apparently, public health specialists aren’t the only ones who are fed up with Spotify‘s relationship with popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who constantly proves to his fans and the world that he knows accurate medical information like Donald Trump knows how elections work and proper sun tanning consistency.
Recently, a “coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanning a wide range of fields such as microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and neuroscience” wrote an open letter to Spotify requesting that the platform do something about Rogan and his fact-free, pseudointellectual, misinformation-spreading approach to discussing COVID-19 and the global pandemic with his listeners. Now, Canadian-American singer and songwriter Neil Young has taken things a step further and notified Spotify that if it doesn’t ditch Rogan and his medical science-averse podcast, then he wants all his music scrubbed from the platform.
According to Rolling Stone, Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that his music be removed from Spotify.
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines–potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” Young wrote. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule. I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.”
According to Variety, The Joe Rogan Experience was Spotify’s most popular podcast globally in 2021, so it isn’t likely the platform is going to cut ties with him just because he knows proper pandemic precautions like Candace Owens knows the lyrics to Ice Cube’s “True to The Game”—even if it means losing the catalog of a septuagenarian recording artist who’s been inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice.
That probably has something to do with the reason the letter was deleted. Young’s manager, Frank Gironda, confirmed to the Daily Beast that the two had discussed Young’s concerns and were “trying to figure this out right now.” He also said that Young was “very upset about this disinformation.”
Look, people just have to realize that Joe Rogan is a doctor like Tucker Carlson is a history teacher. And just because Rogan has a massive audience of white men who own Monty Python hoodies and treat YouTube information like it’s etched on holy tablets and delivered by Moses himself, doesn’t mean he’s someone to follow when it comes to the best medical practices during a global health crisis.
