Spotify CEO Daniel Ek confirms removal of Joe Rogan podcast episodes due to racist language

Author Samuel Järvinen - 7.2.2022

Streaming giant Spotify has removed episodes of its biggest podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, created by Joe Rogan, in droves. Racist language in the episodes is suspected to be the reason for the deletions.

Now, according to The Verge, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek confirms that the removals are due to racist terms used in the episodes. A total of 113 episodes have been removed.

“Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful — I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard”, Ek writes in his memo.

While Ek finds Rogan’s language on the podcast reprehensible, he does not believe that the right solution is to silence Rogan.

Furthermore, according to Ek, Spotify plans to invest $100 million in content produced by historically marginalised groups.