(Tony Sifert and Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Rumble is adding to the ongoing controversy swirling around efforts to cancel popular podcaster Joe Rogan, throwing out a $100-million offer that might be hard to refuse.
“Just hours after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek affirmed he will keep the company’s cash-cow (to placate shareholders, rejecting demands from the mob to cancel the world’s most successful podcast), but was careful to rebuke Joe Rogan (to placate SJWs and ranting staff who are ‘triggered’), Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski [… offered] the podcaster $100 million over four years to bring his ‘free speech’ discussions to an uncensored platform,” reported ZeroHedge.
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski… pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
— Rumble (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
“We stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” Pavlovski wrote. “So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place.”
Rumble, which has emerged as an increasing threat to the censorious Google-owned video-streaming platform YouTube, recently inked a deal with former President Donald Trump’s Digital World Acquisition Corp., which plans to unveil its social-media platform Truth Social later this month.
The partnership promises to be a game-changer for conservatives who have grown disaffected with Big Tech’s leftist cancel culture.
A marquee name like Rogan’s could raise its exposure even more in advance of the impending launch.
“How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years?” Pavlovski wrote. “This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit.”
Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive deal—rumored to be worth in the range of $100 million—with Spotify in March 2020, according to the New York Times.
But the immensely popular podcaster has recently run afoul of Spotify’s newly-articulated content policies after Dr. Robert Malone appeared on his show in December and called the insane social anxiety over COVID an example of “mass formation psychosis.”
The wokerati sprang into action, with around 270 “doctors” signing an open letter to Spotify demanding that the streaming service “moderate misinformation.”
Aging artists like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Nils Lofgren followed suit, demanding that Spotify remove Rogan’s show or lose the rights to stream their music.
Groundhog Refuses To Emerge To See Shadow Until Rogan Banned https://t.co/0EHDhIXCMV
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 1, 2022
A more damaging blow was delivered by India Arie, who took to Instagram to criticize Rogan’s “language around race,” and posted a montage of Rogan quoting the n-word on his show.
Spotify has been running damage control for the last two weeks, promising to add content advisories to podcast episodes mentioned COVID, and throwing $100 million in the direction of “historically marginalized groups.”
Spotify’s stock, meanwhile, is plummeting—down 23% over the last month, according to Google Finance.
Rumble’s stock, meanwhile, rose 43% following its invitation to Rogan, Markets Insider reported.
