Joe Rogan has promised to 'do better' amid the controversy surrounding his Spotify podcast and COVID-19 misinformation.
The Joe Rogan Experience, hosted by the UFC commentator, has somewhat regularly come under fire for giving airtime to problematic views, whether it's his latest episode with volatile academic Jordan Peterson, or his interview with Robert Malone, a discredited doctor who believes Americans have been 'hypnotised' into wearing face masks and getting vaccines.
The backlash elevated last week when Neil Young asked for his music to be removed from Spotify if the streaming platform continued to host Rogan's podcast, the number one podcast in the world last year. Joni Mitchell followed suit, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle called on Spotify to address misinformation.
In a nearly 10-minute long video posted to Instagram, Rogan responded to the criticism and pledged to 'do my best in future to balance things out'.
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'I wanted to make a video to address come of the controversy that has been going on over the past few days and, first of all, to say thank you to everyone who sent love and support. I truly, truly appreciate it and it was very nice to hear from you,' he said.
Rogan discussed his episodes with Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone, both of which received criticism, describing them as 'very highly credentialed, highly intelligent, very accomplished people and have an opinion that's different from the mainstream narrative'.
'The problem I have with dangerous misinformation, especially today, is that many of the things we though of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact like, for instance, eight months ago, if you said that if you get vaccinated you can still contract and spread COVID, you would have been removed from social media and banned from certain platforms. Now, that's accepted as fact,' he continued.
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'I'm just a person who sits down with people and has conversations with them. Have I got things wrong before? Absolutely, but I try to correct things if I have done, because I am interested in telling the truth and finding out what it is. I am interested in having interesting conversations with people who have differing opinions. I am not interested in only talking to people that have one perspective.'
With regards to Young and Mitchell's withdrawal of their music, he said he was 'sorry' they felt that way. 'I most certainly don't want that. I'm a Neil Young fan,' he said, before highlight Spotify's plans to add a disclaimer for COVID-related episodes.
'One of things Spotify wants to do, that I agree with, is that at the beginning of these controversial podcasts – specifically ones about COVID – is to put a disclaimer and say that you should speak with your physician and that these people and the opinions that they express are contrary to the opinions of the consensus of experts, which I think is very important. Sure. Have that on there. I'm very happy with that,' he said.
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'I think, if there’s anything I’ve done that I could do better, that is to have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones. I would most certainly be open to doing that.'
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Cameron Frew