Joe Rogan has apologized and pledged extra stability on his controversial podcast after a rush of rock legends give up Spotify and accused him of spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
“If I p—ed you off, I’m sorry,” the outspoken UFC commentator mentioned in an almost 10-minute video on Instagram late Sunday.
“I’m not attempting to advertise misinformation. I’m not attempting to be controversial,” he insisted of his record-breaking podcast that looks like “some out-of-control juggernaut that I barely have management of.”
“I’ve by no means tried to do something with this podcast different than simply discuss to individuals and have attention-grabbing conversations,” he mentioned of “The Joe Rogan Expertise,” which “began off is simply f–king round with my mates.”
The podcaster addressed the protest over his work that began with “Rockin’ within the Free World” singer Younger quitting Spotify, adopted by Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren.
“I’m very sorry that they really feel that method. I most actually don’t need that. I’m a Neil Younger fan. I’ve at all times been a Neil Younger fan,” he mentioned.
“And positively no onerous emotions in direction of Joni Mitchell. I really like her too,” he mentioned, praising “Chuck E’s In Love,” realizing later that it was truly by Rickie Lee Jones, whose title he misspelled in his caption.
Rogan addressed an announcement hours earlier by Spotify CEO Daniel Elk that future COVID podcasts on the service would carry content material advisories.
“Positive, have that on there. I’m very pleased with that,” Rogan mentioned, calling it “crucial.”
Nonetheless, he justified speaking to the 2 company who've led to his podcast being accused of “spreading harmful misinformation,” noting they had been “very extremely credentialed, very clever, very completed individuals.”
“The issue I've with the time period misinformation, particularly at present, is that most of the issues that we regarded as misinformation simply a short time in the past at the moment are accepted as truth,” he mentioned.
“Eight months in the past, should you mentioned should you get vaccinated you possibly can nonetheless catch COVID and you'll nonetheless unfold COVID — you can be faraway from social media … Now, that’s accepted as truth,” he mentioned.
“If you happen to mentioned ‘I don’t suppose fabric masks work’ you'll be banned from social media. Now that’s brazenly and repeatedly acknowledged on CNN.
“If you happen to mentioned, ‘I feel it’s potential that COVID-19 got here from a lab,’ you’d be banned from many social media platforms. Now that’s on the quilt of Newsweek,” he mentioned.
Rogan famous that he spoke additionally to many who've “a distinct opinion than these males do,” together with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of President Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board.
“Do I get issues fallacious? Completely. I get issues fallacious, however I attempt to appropriate them,” he insisted.
“I feel if there’s something that I’ve performed, that I might do higher is have extra consultants with differing opinions proper after I've the controversial ones. I'd most actually be open to doing that,” he mentioned, calling it a “pledge” to his viewers.
Rogan mentioned it was not the primary time he’d needed to put out fires for Younger — saying his final job as a 19-year-old live performance safety guard had been a present by the Canadian rocker the place followers went so wild, they began “raging fires on the garden” which he was supposed to assist put out.
“I used to be not about to get beat up for 15 bucks an hour,” he recalled, saying that he drove residence singing Younger’s now-ironic basic tune “Rockin’ within the Free World.”
“So no onerous emotions in direction of Neil Younger,” he repeated, whereas additionally thanking Spotify for sticking by him regardless of “taking a lot warmth.”
Rogan was reportedly paid greater than $100 million by Spotify for unique rights to his record-breaking podcast.
“It’s a wierd accountability to have this many viewers and listeners. It’s very unusual and it’s nothing that I put together for, and it’s nothing that I ever anticipated,” he mentioned, thanking the “haters” for making him “reassess” his work.
Post a Comment