Joe Rogan has received support from an unlikely source. The hosts of ‘The View’, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin and Sara Hines were in agreement, Rogan’s podcast should not be removed by Spotify.
The discussion about Rogan’s future on Spotify’s platform has come into focus again after rock musician Neil Young demanded that his music catalog be removed by Spotify. Young is upset with what he believes is vaccine misinformation being spread by Rogan on his podcast. The rock legend issued a statement the other day, which has since been deleted: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not Both.”
Behar acknowledged she thinks Rogan is a ‘horror’ but removing his podcast isn’t the way to solve the problem. Behar said the way to counter Rogan’s type of speech is by adding more speech or by boycotting the program.
The conversation came up during the show’s ‘Hot Topics’ segment when the hosts reacted to Howard Stern’s defense of Rogan. Though he admitted he’s not friendly with the podcast host, Stern said he doesn’t want to see Rogan cancelled.
Behar applauded Young for taking a stand, and wondered if other musicians would adopt similar positions, calling the situation ‘consequence culture, not cancel culture’. Part of the consequence she said would be to punish Spotify by not using their platform as a result for allowing Rogan to operate as he sees fit.
“I’m not saying that Joe Rogan should be removed from Spotify,” added host Sunny Hostin. “He’s got 11 million listeners, he’s got a $100 million contract, as of 2020, but I do think, as the podcast platform, you have to have some sort of guidelines. How about a disclaimer on his podcast, that says ‘This is misinformation.’ How about removing some of the podcasts that disseminate this misinformation?”
Fellow host Sara Haines then pointed out to her colleagues that Spotify has in fact done that. Last April the company removed over 40 episodes of Rogan’s podcast from its platform.
Haines continued by adding “People are hungry for conversations. He has a 3-hour conversation with his guests, and he does bring on opposing views. He doesn’t see that as ‘platforming them’. I think people are hungry to have open conversations, disagreements, debates, and they don’t want to be told how to feel about it.”
Hostin followed up by pointing out that the hosts of ‘The View’ are held to an ABC News standard because of who they work for, and after citing examples of Rogan’s speech being uncomfortable, she challenged Spotify to do a better job of policing its people and platform.
The segment ended with Behar asking “when it’s hateful speech, is that equivalent to yelling fire in a crowded theater?” She explained that doing so is dangerous, people aren’t supposed to do it, to which Goldberg added “but there isn’t any law against it.” The group wrapped up the discussion by agreeing that Rogan should be allowed to speak freely but Spotify needs to do a better job of making sure those listening are aware that not everything mentioned is factual.
