“Joe Rogan has apologized and pledged to try harder to offer balanced views on his podcast,” Scorch said.
“What did he apologize for?” Orak replied.
“Oh, you guys haven’t heard of his row with Spotify, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell?” Scorch said.
Verum shook her head, “No, please tell us.”
Scorch said, “Rogan is an American commentator. He has a podcast. A podcast is a music or talk program available on the internet. His show is called The Joe Rogan Experience. In 2020, Spotify, the audio streaming service, paid Rogan $100 million to stream his podcast on their platform. It is Spotify’s most popular podcast.”
“But,” Scorch continued, “Rogan was criticized by Canadian musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell for spreading misinformation about Covid-19. They asked Spotify to choose, either to remove his podcast or their music from the platform.”
“What sort of misinformation did Rogan spread?” Verum said.
“In two of the recent episodes, Rogan hosted cardiologist (heart doctor) Dr. Peter McCullough and immunologist/virologist (a doctor who studies infections) Dr. Robert Malone.
But the views they shared about Covid-19 were different from the information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC is the national public health agency of the United States. In his previous episodes, Rogan has also discouraged young people from taking vaccines.”
“That’s so misleading! What was Spotify’s response?” Felix said.
“Spotify said it is working to add a warning to podcasts discussing Covid-19,” Scorch said.
“Later on, Rogan posted a 10-minute video apology on Instagram. He admitted that he may have got things wrong. He said he never tried to do anything on his podcast other than talk to people. He also thanked Spotify for being supportive,” Scorch added.
“Hope there’s no more of spreading misinformation about Covid-19 though!” Orak said.