Joe Rogan’s Spotify launch marred by censored podcasts
Joe Rogan’s exclusive $100 million deal with Spotify was heralded as a victory for freedom of speech as it was thought that his popular podcast would not be subject to the frequent censorship seen from the likes of YouTube, but his launch on the platform was marred after it was noticed that numerous episodes were removed.
The Joe Rogan Experience is among the most listened to and watched podcasts in the world, with host Joe Rogan hosting deep and lengthy discussions with figures from across the political spectrum.
“It will remain free, and it will be the exact same show,” said Rogan in May 2020 of his switch to Spotify.
“It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show.
“They want me to just continue doing it the way I’m doing it right now.”
However, subscribers quickly noticed that a host of podcasts had been erased from Spotify.
Episodes with the likes of Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Sargon of Akkad, Stefan Molyneux and Gavin McInnes – who have each been removed from either YouTube, Facebook and Twitter in recent years – were not transferred.
The move doesn’t appear to be based on popularity, or lack thereof, with Jones’ episode 1255, for example, being Rogan’s second most watched podcast on YouTube behind only Elon Musk.
The aforementioned figures fall in the ‘controversial’ bracket, which by no means is grounds for censorship, yet the criteria on which episodes were removed is perplexing as it features many other figures with seemingly harmless viewpoints such as comedians and environmentalists.
Despite a backlash on social media for these removals, neither Joe Rogan nor Spotify have commented on the matter.
The full list of the banned episodes can be found below:
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1461 – Owen Smith
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1458 – Chris D’Elia
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1456 – Michael Shermer
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1303 – Tommy Chong
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1296 – Joe List
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1255 – Alex Jones Returns
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1182 – Nick Kroll
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1164 – Mikhaila Peterson
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1093 – Owen Benjamin & Kurt Metzger
The Joe Rogan Experience – #1033 – Owen Benjamin
The Joe Rogan Experience – #998 – Owen Benjamin
The Joe Rogan Experience – #980 – Chris D’Elia
The Joe Rogan Experience – #979 – Sargon of Akkad
The Joe Rogan Experience – #920 – Gavin McInnes
The Joe Rogan Experience – #911 – Alex Jones & Eddie Bravo
The Joe Rogan Experience – #820 – Milo Yiannopoulos
The Joe Rogan Experience – #750 – Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn, producers of Conspiracy
The Joe Rogan Experience – #710 – Gavin McInnes
The Joe Rogan Experience – #702 – Milo Yiannopoulos
The Joe Rogan Experience – #640 – Charles C. Johnson
The Joe Rogan Experience – #582 – David Seaman
The Joe Rogan Experience – #538 – Stefan Molyneux
The Joe Rogan Experience – #524 – Rickson Gracie
The Joe Rogan Experience – #520 – David Seaman
The Joe Rogan Experience – #487 – David Seaman
The Joe Rogan Experience – #463 – Louis Theroux
The Joe Rogan Experience – #461 – David Seaman
The Joe Rogan Experience – #454 – War Machine
The Joe Rogan Experience – #441 – Brian Dunning
The Joe Rogan Experience – #368 – David Seaman
The Joe Rogan Experience – #361 – Dave Asprey, Tait Fletcher
The Joe Rogan Experience – #331 – Dr. Steven Greer
The Joe Rogan Experience – #303 – Matt Vengrin, Brian Redban
The Joe Rogan Experience – #275 – Dave Asprey
The Joe Rogan Experience – #256 – David Seaman
The Joe Rogan Experience – #239 – Adam Kokesh
The Joe Rogan Experience – #213 – Eddie Bravo
The Joe Rogan Experience – #199 – Joey Diaz
The Joe Rogan Experience – #182 – Bryan Callen, Jimmy Burke, Brian Redban
The Joe Rogan Experience – #128 – Joey Diaz, Brian Redban
The Joe Rogan Experience – #119 – Jan Irvin
The Joe Rogan Experience – #108 – Joey Diaz, Brian Redban
The Joe Rogan Experience – #98 – Daryl Wright & Brian Whitaker
The Joe Rogan Experience – #97 – Freddy Lockhart, Brian Redban
The Joe Rogan Experience – #81 – Pete Johansson
The Joe Rogan Experience – #57 – Jayson Thibault, Brian Redban
