Spotify CEO apologises to employees for Joe Rogan, says he doesn’t believe in ‘silencing’ him

‘Cancelling voices is a slippery slope,’ Daniel Ek says after a host’s use of a racial slur in previous episodes sparked an outcry.

Daniel Ek, chief executive officer and co-founder of Spotify, says the Joe Rogan affair has left many employees ‘feeling drained, frustrated and unheard’. Mr Ek is seen in 2016. Picture: Bloomberg

Spotify Technology chief executive Daniel Ek has apologised to employees for the way Joe Rogan’s use of a racial slur in previous podcast episodes has affected them, saying the situation “leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard”.

Mr Ek said in a letter shared with The Wall Street Journal by a company spokesman that he has no plans to remove the star podcaster from the streaming platform and committed to spending $US100m ($140m) on music and audio content from what he called historically marginalised groups.

“There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ controversy continues to impact each of you,” Mr Ek said to Spotify staff on Sunday, referring to Rogan’s podcast. “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.”

The Spotify executive’s comments doubled down on his statements last week that Spotify is an open platform despite its exclusive deal to distribute Rogan’s podcast and that excluding Rogan isn’t the right choice. Mr Ek’s letter follows Spotify’s acknowledgment that it was delayed in addressing outcry sparked by rocker Neil Young over Rogan’s shows about the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines.

Mr Ek said in his letter that Rogan chose to remove some episodes from Spotify following discussions with the company and Rogan’s own reflections. Tracking site jremissing.com says 113 of Rogan’s episodes have been taken off Spotify since Friday.

Rogan apologised for the second time in a week on Saturday after a compilation video emerged showing how he and some of his guests used the N-word numerous times on his show. In a video on his Instagram account, Rogan said he offered “my sincere and humble apologies” for “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly”.

He said the clips were taken out of context and that they were based on 12 years of conversations. He added that they look “horrible, even to me”.

The influence Rogan’s show has and how much responsibility Spotify has for its content has generated significant attention in recent days. Several artists, including Young, Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash have said they want to remove their content from Spotify for what they deem is misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines spread by Rogan.

Singer-songwriter India Arie said she pulled her music from the platform because she opposed the language Rogan used around race and the amount of money he makes from Spotify. She shared the compilation video of Rogan using a racial slur in numerous instances on his show, which sparked the latest outcry.

“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realise some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Mr Ek said. “We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but cancelling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.”

Last week Spotify publicised its content policies and created advisories for pandemic-related shows that send listeners to an information hub about Covid-19.

In 2020, Spotify paid $US100m, according to people familiar with the deal, to host The Joe Rogan Experience exclusively on its platform. The podcast has been critical to Spotify’s growth and expansion beyond music streaming.

Spotify’s response comes as companies increasingly are being forced to address backlash stemming from content on their platforms. Netflix late last year res­ponded to the outcry over a Dave Chap­pelle stand-up special that some employees said was offensive to the transgender community.

At the time, Netflix co-chief executive and chief content officer Ted Sarandos issued a companywide email defending the special and saying the service wouldn’t pull it down.

The Wall Street Journal