Following the announcement that Spotify will add a “content advisory” to future episodes of his podcast, Joe Rogan has released an Instagram video where he not only agrees with the decision but promises to bring on more experts with “differing opinions.” Rogan’s conciliatory video arrives on the heel of growing pressure for Spotify to rein in the COVID misinformation on his podcast. Shortly after Neil Young pulled his music from the platform in protest of Rogan’s pushing anti-vaxxer views, more artists like Joni Mitchell began threatening to do the same.
The backlash prompted Spotify to finally address the situation, which resulted in a promise to put a disclaimer in front of any podcast that discusses COVID-19. However, no one expected Rogan himself to go into damage control by releasing his new Instagram video where he fully admits that he gets things wrong.
Joe Rogan broke his silence on Spotify controversy: “I think if there’s anything that I’ve done that I could do better is have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones. I would most certainly be open to doing that.”https://t.co/vrjA5mr4Zm pic.twitter.com/O8CV9hhgt1
— The Recount (@therecount) January 31, 2022
He said he never tried to be controversial and expressed amazement at how a podcast of “me talking to some friends” grew into “some out-of-control juggernaut that I barely have control of.”
“I pledge to balance out the more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspective so many we can find a better point of view, I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative it, I want to show all kinds of opinions,” on all topics, and not just COVID-19, he said.
“My point was to create interesting conversations, and ones people enjoy,” he said. “If I’ve pissed you off, I’m sorry. And if you enjoy the podcast, thank you.”
Rogan also had nothing but good things to say about Young and Mitchell, who he’s not “mad” at all. He’s a big fan of both of their music, but to demonstrate that he doesn’t always hit the mark, he said he loved Mitchell’s “Chuck E In Love.” There’s just one small problem: It’s a Ricki Lee Jones, which Rogan later corrected in the caption of his Instagram post with an added “Doh!”
You can see Rogan’s full video below:
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)