Spotify removes over 70 Joe Rogan Experience podcast episodes amid controversy

Alex Tsiaoussidis
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Spotify removed more than 70 episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience after the podcast host was accused of helping misinformation spread and using racial slurs in the past.

Joe Rogan has been at the forefront of controversy in 2022. Towards the end of January, the podcast host came under fire for allegedly helping misinformation spread by having controversial guests on his show.

Neil Young threatened to boycott Spotify for allowing him to do this, which sparked a movement on social media. Rogan held himself accountable and told fans disclaimer messages will be added in the future.

But just as things were settling, footage of Rogan using racial slurs in the past emerged. He insisted the clips were taken out of context and that he isn’t racist but admitted it “sounded terrible.”

In the midst of the drama, Spotify removed more than 70 episodes of his show from their platform. It’s not the first time they’ve done it, with more than 100 episodes now missing.

Joe Rogan on Breaking Points
Joe Rogan has been caught up in one controversy after another so far in 2022.

A fan-made website named JREMissing, which compares a list of Joe Rogan Experience episodes available on the platform to a database of all the ones that have ever been recorded, was the first to make the discovery.

Episodes removed include guests like Amy Schumer, Ari Shaffir, Bert Kreischer, Brian Redban, Maynard James Keenan, Michael Malice, Russell Peters, Theo Von, and Tom Segura — some of whom are regular guests.

Some of the Joe Rogan Experience episodes that were taken down had regular guests.

Spotify hasn’t explained the reason behind the decision yet. However, CEO Daniel Ek denied they were fueled by the backlash. He also stated Rogan isn’t above policy rules despite his importance to them.

“I think the important part here is that we don’t change our policies based on one creator nor do we change it based on any media cycle, or calls from anyone else,” he said during a company earnings report.

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About The Author

Alex is a former Dexerto writer based in Australia. He finished a law degree but realized it wasn't the career for him and decided to follow his dream of becoming a writer. Since then, he completed a graduate diploma and a master's degree in writing. Now he writes about his other passion; esports and gaming.