Spotify CEO Daniel Ek doubled down on his support for Joe Rogan in a staff memo sent out on Sunday. The streaming boss claimed that ‘canceling voices is a slippery slope' and apologized to staff but added that the company would invest $100 million on content from historically marginalized groups.
According to an internal memo obtained by Axios reporter Sara Fischer, Ek told staff that if the company believes in having an open platform, then they must also believe in “elevating all types of creators” including those from “underrepresented communities” with a “diversity of backgrounds.”
The boss committed to a $100 million investment into the "licensing, development, and marketing" of music and audio content from "historically marginalized groups." Ek stopped short of removing Rogan from the platform, saying that he does not believe "that silencing Joe is the answer."
The move is a result of accusations against controversial podcast host Joe Rogan, who many have accused of spreading COVID-19 vaccine information. In response to the accusations, artist Neil Young pulled his entire music library from the streaming service. Joni Mitchell was quick to join the protest by pulling her music catalog as well.
The podcaster received additional criticism after a viral video montage showed him repeatedly using a racial slur. Rogan apologized for the clip over the weekend.
"It's not my word to use," Rogan said, calling it "most regretful and shameful thing that I've ever had to talk about publicly."
As a result of the two controversies, Rogan has removed over 100 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience from the streaming platform, a move that Ek appears to agree with.
"While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer," Ek wrote in the memo to staff. "Canceling voices is a slippery slope."
The $100 million the streaming giant plans to put toward elevating marginalized groups is similar in size to what the company paid Rogan for exclusive streaming rights to his podcast in 2020.
The show has become a juggernaut for Spotify, with each episode attracting more than 11 million listeners. The show easily surpasses its mainstream media counterparts, including MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN.
Sources: Washington Post, DailyMail