Graham Nash, India Arie become latest artists to leave Spotify over Joe Rogan
Graham Nash and India Arie clearly aren't satisfied with Spotify's response to its Joe Rogan controversy.
Nash and Arie have become the latest artists to announce they'll pull their music from the streaming platform in protest of Rogan's podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, per The Hollywood Reporter. The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young singer called out COVID-19 "disinformation" spread on Rogan's show, a Spotify original podcast.
"There is a difference between misinformation, in which one is unaware that what is being said is false, versus disinformation which is knowingly false and intended to mislead and sway public opinion," Nash said. "The opinions publicized by Rogan are so dishonest and unsupported by solid facts that Spotify becomes an enabler in a way that costs people their lives."
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Arie, who hosts the podcast SongVersation, took issue with Rogan for another reason. "For me it's also his language around race," she wrote. Rogan recently drew criticism after saying "the term Black" is "weird" unless used to describe a person who is "100 percent African, from the darkest place, where they're not wearing any clothes all day."
Neil Young last week had his music pulled from Spotify after slamming Rogan for "spreading fake information about vaccines," and Joni Mitchell joined him. On Sunday, Spotify responded by saying it would add content advisory labels to podcasts that discuss COVID-19, and Rogan said he would try to "balance things out" on his podcast in the future.
This didn't stop Nash and Arie from joining the protest, though, and Nash's former bandmate David Crosby said he would pull his music from Spotify, too, but can't because "I no longer control it." Crosby also seemed to suggest he hopes one of the biggest songwriters in the world might join the effort.
"If one of you can reach Taylor Swift," Crosby wrote, "I want very badly to speak with her."
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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