Joe Rogan is one of the most influential people in the world. The long-time UFC commentator has been in the public eye for many years now and is a popular figure. Rogan, outside of his work as a UFC commentator, also has his own podcast.

The Joe Rogan Experience has been airing for many years now. In 2020, he signed a multi-year licensing deal with Spotify for an estimated amount of $100 million.

However, recently the podcast, Rogan, and Spotify have come under a lot of fire. Many celebrities, doctors, and people from other fields have asked the audio streaming platform to monitor Rogan’s content. Some musicians and podcasters have removed their content from the platform as well. According to them, Rogan is spreading misinformation on his show.

The controversy started when a singer-songwriter threatened to remove his music from the platform. After Spotify didn’t agree to his demand, he followed through and removed all of his music from Spotify.

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People like Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, Brene Brown, India Arie, and Mary Trump, among others have left the platform. However, despite all the backlash, Rogan is getting support from a lot of people.

Spotify CEO defends Joe Rogan deal

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed the situation with Joe Rogan and the backlash. He explained how they don’t have creative control over Rogan’s content. But they review the content posted by him and if it violates their policies, they take appropriate enforcement actions.

According to him, Spotify removed several JRE episodes because they violate the platform’s rules. Ek, who doesn’t necessarily agree with Rogan’s views, said, “There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive.”

However, he did defend the deal-

“If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with.”

“Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad,” he added.

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Despite all the issues and controversy around the topic, Rogan is still on Spotify. His latest episode came out on February 4, 2022. With the CEO of the platform backing the idea behind the deal, it doesn’t look like he’ll be leaving Spotify anytime soon.