Spotify removes over 70 Joe Rogan Experience podcast episodes amid controversy

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.

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.

• Read More: The Rock takes back praise for Joe Rogan apology

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.

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.

• Read More: Amouranth wades into Joe Rogan drama with funny Spotify threat

“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.