Popular podcaster Joe Rogan said Tuesday that two former U.S. presidents reached out to Spotify in 2022 to pressure the platform over his controversial commentary on COVID-19, reigniting debate around censorship and media bias.
Rogan, who hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, became a lightning rod during the pandemic after critics accused him of spreading misinformation, especially regarding vaccines and alternative treatments. His comments triggered a wave of backlash at the time, including a high-profile protest by musician Neil Young, who removed his music from Spotify in response.
“And then all of a sudden, I hear that Neil Young wants me removed from Spotify,” Rogan recalled. “I was like, ‘What the f— is going on? This is crazy.’”
But Rogan added a new detail to the controversy:
“Spotify got calls from two former presidents,” he said, without naming them.
During the height of the criticism, then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed the situation after Spotify began flagging COVID-related podcast episodes with disclaimers.
“This disclaimer, it’s a positive step,” Psaki said at the time, “but we want every platform to continue doing more to call out misinformation while also uplifting accurate information.”
She urged all major tech and media platforms to take stronger action to ensure the public had access to “accurate” information regarding the pandemic.
Despite the backlash, Rogan said the controversy only increased his reach.
“Instead of being deplatformed, I grew by 2 million subscribers in a month,” he said. “People started listening… and they realized, ‘Oh, he’s really reasonable and pretty humble about all this stuff and just asking questions.’”
Rogan also revisited the media criticism he received for taking Ivermectin, a drug some outlets described as a “horse dewormer.”
“I’m like, ‘Why aren’t you guys concentrating on the fact that a 55-year-old man is fine three days later during the worst strain?’” he said, referencing his recovery from the Delta variant of COVID-19. “And I was fine in three days.”
Rogan reflected on how the experience changed his view of the media and establishment institutions.
“It was a wake-up call,” he said. “It’s so dirty. It’s such a dirty business. God, I used to have massive respect for journalists.”
He added that without his podcast platform, he likely would have accepted the mainstream narrative without question.
“If I had never done this podcast, I would be your regular schmo out there just spitting out all the company lines blasted all over the news.”
“I kind of liked it better then,” he joked. “I didn’t think the world is filled with demons—money-hungry demons willing to sacrifice human lives in the pursuit of revenue.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed the controversy during a 2022 earnings call, making it clear the company wouldn’t bend its rules for any one creator.
“We don’t change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change them based on any media cycle,” Ek said at the time. “Our policies were written with input from a range of experts, and we believe they are appropriate for our platform.”
Despite persistent calls from progressive critics to cancel Rogan, Spotify has continued to stand by its top podcaster, whose influence only grew following the controversy.
With input from Fox News
