(Headline USA) Canadian rock musician Neil Young demanded that Spotify choose between his music or Joe Rogan’s podcast, threatening to remove all of his songs from the website if Rogan is not de-platformed.
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” Young said this week. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines—potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.”
“They can have Neil Young or Rogan. Not both,” he added.
Young’s ultimatum comes a few weeks after Rogan posted a podcast episode with epidemiologist Dr. Robert Malone, who has been smeared as an “anti-vaxxer” for criticizing the COVID-19 vaccines. YouTube even removed the episode from its website, claiming it spread medical misinformation.
In his conversation with Rogan, Malone blasted U.S. public health officials for creating a climate similar to that of Nazi Germany, in which “free-floating anxiety” led to political totalitarianism.
Malone also claimed he helped develop the mRNA technology used in two of the COVID-19 vaccines, and blasted governments for trying to mandate it.
“Our government is out of control on this and they are lawless,” the scientist argued. “They completely disregard bioethics, they completely disregard the federal common rule, they have broken all the rules that I know of that I’ve been trained on for years and years. These mandates of an experimental vaccine are explicitly illegal.”
Young said Spotify has a responsibility to suppress this “misinformation,” telling the company to “please act on this immediately and keep me informed of the time schedule.”
Rogan’s podcast attracts nearly 11 million listeners per episode and is easily the most popular podcast in the world. Spotify signed Rogan to a deal in 2020 for an estimated $100 million.
