Joe Rogan defends podcast and apologises to Spotify amid covid misinformation backlash

Rogan responds

Joe Rogan has finally responded to the long-running allegations of misinformation on his highly popular, Spotify-hosted podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. After a series of musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell asked Spotify to pull their music from the platform - alleging that Rogan continues to spread dangerous covid misinformation - the 54-year-old podcaster and comedian has finally spoken out. As you can see in the near-10-minute-long video response, the MMA commentator, TV presenter and online content creator started off by defending his podcasts, stating, "they’re just conversations", before going on to confess that he is not a health expert. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZYQ_nDJi6G/?utm_source=ig_embed   Rogan continues, admitting, "oftentimes I have no idea what I’m going to talk about until I sit down and talk to people. And that’s why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out because I’m literally having them in real-time but I do my best... I think that’s also the appeal of the show. It’s one of the things that makes it interesting." He then turns his attention to the platform itself, saying, "I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I’m very sorry that this is happening to them and that they’re taking so much from it.” Prince Harry and Meghan are the latest to criticise Spotify over Rogan's podcast, which averages around 11 million listeners per episode. Undoubtedly his most controversial piece of covid-related discussion was the revelation that he was taking horse-dewormer ivermectin to treat the infection. While he assured listeners that the guests he gets on are “highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people" that just happen to have differing opinions from the "mainstream" - he admitted, "I do not know if they’re right [...] because I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist", adding that he "absolutely gets things wrong" but tries to correct that whenever it happens. He rounds out the video message by saying he doesn't know "what else [he] can do other than try to get other people with more differing opinions" and promised to "research these topics more" in the future, as well as apologising to anyone's he's "pissed off".

Related links:

• James Blunt threatens to release new music on Spotify if they don't remove Joe Rogan
• Anti-vaxxer Laurence Fox says he's got covid-19 and is taking Ivermectin to treat it
• Doctors demand Spotify take action over Joe Rogan covid misinformation