Spotify removes more than 70 Joe Rogan episodes — but not for COVID misinformation

Spotify has opted to remove 70 podcast episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience from the platform's archive.

While the deletion comes amid controversy Rogan has faced for his spread of misinformation on COVID-19, Consequence.net, reports that the now-deleted episodes date back to 2019 and are unrelated to what initially caused the problem.

The discovery of the latest podcast episodes in question has opened the door to even more criticism of Rogan as they contain repeated use of the N-word. Earlier this week, soul singer India.Arie took to social media to raise awareness about the episodes as she announced she'd be pulling her music from the platform over Rogan being allowed to use the N-word in multiple podcast episodes.

"He shouldn’t even be uttering the word. Don’t even say it, under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there,” said Arie as she condemned Rogan’s “language around race.”

Although Spotify has taken initiative to remove some of his podcast episodes, there are still deep concerns about him still being allowed to spread misinformation about COVID-19 with his continued use of the platform. The podcast episodes that initially sparked controversy also remain on the platform.

However, in wake of the latest controversy, Rogan has responded.

On Saturday, February 5, Rogan addressed the removal of his podcast episodes over his use of the N-word and issued a statement of apology for his remarks. “It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use,” Rogan said. “I’m well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner. I never used it to be racist, ’cause I’m not racist.’ But whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say ‘I’m not racist,’ you fucked up, and I clearly have fucked up.”