Spotify CEO 'strongly condemns' Joe Rogan's N-word use but 'won't silence him'

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek ‘strongly condemns’ Joe Rogan’s past use of the N-word but has said that he won’t ‘silence’ him as a result.

This latest development comes as comedian and podcaster Rogan faces fresh backlash after musician India Arie shared a compilation of clips of him using the N-word multiple times on his podcast and then confirmed she was pulling her music from Spotify due to Rogan’s ‘language around race’.

Rogan apologised for the latest controversy in a video on his Instagram on Saturday, calling it ‘the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly’.

The 54-year-old said the clips were taken ‘out of context’ over 12 years, and admitted it looked ‘f***ing horrible’.

He insisted he hasn’t used the word ‘for years’, but in the past would say the word itself ‘instead of saying the N-word’ because he thought ‘in context people would understand’.

Rogan continued: ‘I never used [the word] to be racist, because I’m not racist’, but acknowledged he ‘clearly f***ed up’.


Now, in a memo to employees on Sunday, Ek indicated that Spotify will be standing by Rogan, while apologising for the ‘continuing impact’ the furore has had on workers.

‘There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you,’ the chief executive said in the statement, obtained by Fox Business.

‘I think it’s important you’re aware that we’ve had conversations with Joe and his team about some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language.’

Ek went on to draw attention to Rogan ‘choosing to remove a number of past episodes’ following the discussions, as well as issuing ‘his own apology’.  

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He added: ‘While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realise some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.’

As per Reuters, Ek then repeated his stand on Spotify’s content moderation policies, saying that he believes the company should have clear boundaries around the content being published and take actions when they are crossed – but he warned that cancelling voices is a slippery slope.

The company will also commit US$100m for the licensing, development and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalised groups in order to elevate creators from a diversity of backgrounds, according to the letter, which was confirmed to the publication by a Spotify spokesperson.

Grammy winner Arie had made reference to reports that Rogan signed a $100million (£73million) deal with Spotify in her exit announcement, and claimed the company pays musicians a fraction of what they should be paid despite music being the ‘backbone of the service’.

Comedian-turned-MMA commentator Rogan hosts Spotify’s most popular podcast, with an estimated 11million listeners per episode, and has also recently faced criticism for his views on the Covid-19 vaccine, including him previously urging ‘young, healthy’ people not to get jabbed.

In response, various artists have demanded their music is taken down from Spotify, led by music icon Neil Young, who pulled his entire catalogue from the platform in protest.

In a lengthy video, Rogan responded by saying: ‘I’m not trying to promote misinformation, I’m not trying to be controversial. I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people and have interesting conversations.’

Spotify has said it will put content warnings on all podcast episodes that contain discussions of Covid-19, which Rogan says he supports.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Spotify for comment.

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