Neil Young asks to be removed from Spotify over Joe Rogan Experience controversy

Music icon Neil Young has issued an ultimatum to Spotify, prompted by its airing of star podcaster Joe Rogan’s views.

Canadian rock legend Neil Young has posted an open letter demanding his music be removed from Spotify, calling out the service for giving Joe Rogan a platform to spout baseless vaccination advice.

The letter, which was posted on Young’s website but has since been removed, was addressed to Young’s manager Frank Gironda and Warner Bros. boss Tom Corson, Pitchfork reports.

In the message, the 76-year-old asked his management to have his music taken down from the streaming platform, which he accused of “spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them”.

“They can have (Joe) Rogan or Young. Not both,” he wrote.

“Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”

The ‘Harvest Moon’ singer made it clear it’s him or Rogan. Picture: AFP.

He went on to slam Spotify for having “no misinformation policy”.

“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” the letter read.

“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”

UFC commentator Rogan is the controversial host of Spotify-produced podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which doctors have repeatedly denounced for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines throughout the pandemic.

Last month, 270 medical professionals signed an open letter pleading with Spotify to stop spreading Rogan’s claims after the podcast aired hours of interviews with Covid sceptics, including a three-hour interview with US cardiologist Dr McCullough which racked up over 40 million views in its first week in December.

Rogan moved his podcast to the streaming service in late 2021.

Young blasted the streaming service for not having a ‘misinformation policy’. Picture: AP.

Young’s demand today comes as fellow music icon Eric Clapton has made headlines for a bizarre Covid-19 vaccination rant in which he claimed he felt lured into receiving the AstraZeneca vaccination due to subliminal messaging in mainstream media and advertising.

The 76-year-old has been peddling unfounded theories in recent months, which kicked off in late 2020 when he released the anti-lockdown song Stand and Deliver with Irish singer Van Morrison.

The single – written by Morrison and recorded by Clapton – had many scratching their heads for going against the government lockdowns and mandates set in place to mitigate the early spread of coronavirus.

In a new interview on the Real Music Observer YouTube channel, Clapton peddled the theory of “mass formation hypnosis” – a phrase coined to suggest groups are being tricked into follow messages against their will – which has been widely discredited by scientists and medical experts.