Srs Bsns: Rumors Of Disgruntled Spotify Employees Threatening To Strike If Joe Rogan’s Podcast Isn’t Censored Spark Heated Bouts Online

News of Joe Rogan’s hefty $100 million deal was among the podcast world’s biggest headlines earlier this summer. As the largest podcast deal of all time, Spotify’s exclusive partnership with the Joe Rogan Experience, which brings in an estimated 200 million monthly listeners, seemed like an enormous milestone for Rogan and the entire podcasting industry.

But all that glitters is not Spotify-green, and for weeks now, the online rumor mill has been swirling with gossip that employees have been expressing their outrage over JRE’s new home, clamoring for censorship and more control over its content. Judging from the numerous articles covering the controversy, it seems like the backlash stems from some of Rogan’s more contentious guests, such as Alex Jones, or statements surrounding topics related to transgender identity. Rogan has also been widely discussed over the potential of his podcast hosting a presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, but that seems unlikely to happen despite the president's agreement to the idea.

Whether these are merely rumors or not, a quick search on Google will bring up articles from media companies such as VICE, Heavy, and many others, so let’s dig into the history of the controversy and see what it’s all about.

In mid-September, the first whispers that Spotify employees were unhappy with the JRE deal began to surface, a mere two weeks after it launched on the app. According to an article by VICE, who received copies of some of the questions presented in the meeting, “Spotify CEO Daniel Ek defended keeping transphobic content from hugely popular podcaster Joe Rogan on the audio platform” in an all-hands company meeting this September.

During the meeting, employees expressed that “Many LGBTQAI+/ally Spotifiers feel unwelcome and alienated because of leadership's response in JRE conversations,” asking what their message to those staff members would be regarding certain statements made by Rogan or guests on his show.

Before all of this, it should be noted that nearly 50 episodes of JRE were already removed from the full lineup on Spotify’s platform including:

#1461 Owen Smith, #1458 Chris D'Elia, #1456 Michael Shermer, #1303 Tommy Chong, #1296 Joe List, #1255 Alex Jones Returns, #1182 Nick Kroll, #1093 Owen Benjamin, Kurt Metzger, #1033 Owen Benjamin, #998 Owen Benjamin, #980 Chris D'Elia, #979 Sargon of Akkad, #920 Gavin McInnes, #911 Alex Jones, Eddie Bravo, #820 Milo Yiannopoulos, #750 Kip Andersen, Keegan Kuhn, #710 Gavin McInnes, #702 Milo Yiannopoulos, #640 Charles C. Johnson, #582 David Seaman, #538 Stefan Molyneux, #533 Chris D’elia, #520 David Seaman, #487 David Seaman, #463 Louis Theroux, #461 David Seaman, #454 War Machine, #441 Brian Dunning, #368 David Seaman, #361 Dave Asprey, Tait Fletcher, #331 Dr. Steven Greer, #303 Matt Vengrin, Brian Redban, #276 David Seaman, Abby Martin, Dell Cameron, Brian Redban, #275 Dave Asprey, #256 David Seaman, #239 Adam Kokesh, #213 Eddie Bravo, #182 Bryan Callen, Jimmy Burke, Brian Redban, #128 Joey Diaz, Brian Redban, #119 Jan Irvin, #108 Joey Diaz, Brian Redban, #98 Daryl Wright, Brian Whitaker, #97 Freddy Lockhart, Brian Redban, #81 Pete Johansson, and finally, #57 Jayson Thibault, Brian Redban.

As noted by the many news stories covering the early days of this controversy, many of these episodes featured “far-right figures,” controversial segments, individuals accused of sexual misconduct or conspiracy theory mongers. While this type of censorship is something most often seen in debates over social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter, the push for Spotify to branch out from solely hosting music seems to be resulting in headaches for the company in short order.

About a week after VICE’s report hit the web, other outlets picked up the story and noted that some Spotify employees were “demanding direct editorial oversight” over JRE. Digital Music News (DMN) then shared insider reports stating that some of the employees’ demands were met by Spotify management, but not enough to quell rumors of a walkout or strike. In the article, DMN said that the strike, if it actually happened, would revolve around Spotify’s office in NYC and involve “protests outside Spotify’s Manhattan headquarters” as well as “media appearances and coordination with other activist organizations.”

Despite all this gossip, Rogan and anyone from his staff had yet to comment on the news of potential strikes, but late last week, Rogan finally broke his silence. In JRE episode #1544 with guest Tim Dillon, released last Thursday, Rogan and Dillon discussed the controversy for the first time.

According to Rogan, Spotify has not once spoken to him about censoring his show, nor addressed any internal disputes among employees, though he added that he was well aware of the numerous articles. “Listen, me on the outside reading these f****** articles, like ‘Oh my God, Spotify is censoring Rogan.' Spotify has said nothing. Listen to me, nothing,” Rogan said. “They haven’t said anything to my manager, they haven’t said anything to me. They’ve said nothing. They’ve apparently had meetings. But they have a lot of meetings.”

Rogan’s discussion with Dillon went on for about eight minutes total regarding the issue but reiterated several times that he has heard nothing about any sort of censorship.

On Monday, comedians JP Sears and Brent Pella published a satirical video on their YouTube channel depicting parodies of the so-called “woke Spotify employees” demanding the company allow them to censor JRE’s content. The clip, which includes mostly absurdist explanations for how Rogan is “racist” or “transphobic,” has already been viewed nearly 700,000 times in less than 48 hours. Additionally, Rogan shared the video on his Twitter that same day, marking his first public acknowledgment of the controversy online, aside from his conversation on the podcast last week.

Aside from all this news about the outcry from Spotify staff, Rogan also found himself in hot water a few weeks ago over misinformation. In his episode with guest Douglas Murray, Rogan repeated a claim that “left-wing people” had been arrested for intentionally causing wildfires in Oregon, which originally began as part of conspiracy theory online. The statement resulted in further backlash aimed at Rogan, though he did specifically walk back the claim in a later episode of JRE shortly after, as well as issuing an apology on Twitter.

So far though, nothing has actually come to fruition with all this controversy between Rogan and Spotify aside from news coverage or internal leaks and reports from staff. Whether that will change in the near future is anybody’s guess but with additional debates and discussion heating up online, as well as Rogan personally addressing the rumors, it appears that Rogan’s new home and renown has placed him squarely under the magnifying glass to an unprecedented level.