Weeks after Spotify employees threatened to go on strike unless certain episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience were removed from the platform, it seems Rogan has decided to show them who’s boss by inviting back one of his most controversial guests ever – Infowars founder Alex Jones.
Interestingly, older JRE episodes featuring Alex Jones have not been uploaded onto Spotify, so it will be interesting to see how they handle this one. Either way, here are some clips and some of the reaction online:
Alex Jones Breaks Down The Entire Hunter Biden Laptop Story And Big Tech Election Meddling In Under A Minute.#AlexJones #JoeRogan pic.twitter.com/jzr8CH9Xuv
— Harrison Hill Smith ✞ (@Harrison_of_TX) October 27, 2020
Joe Rogan hosted far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his podcast today. They pushed anti-vaxx conspiracies and broadcasted banned Infowars videos. Rogan continuing to platform these far-right sickos is incredibly gross and dangerous. pic.twitter.com/ymNMm9GI5x
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) October 27, 2020
Hey @Spotify. I just cancelled my Premium account. If you’d ever like my money back, can it with this shit. https://t.co/B9SlG9WELv
— Michael Dobozy (Progressives Show Up to Work) (@dobozysaurus) October 27, 2020
Cancelling @Spotify now. https://t.co/xXltMTgwEs
— Feckless Tunt (@kindapettybetty) October 27, 2020
I’ve been a @Spotify user since Rdio went the way of the Buffalo, and @replyall is one of my fave podcasts. But I don’t want to give money to people that finance this BS. https://t.co/qk5Q5bWgtp
— Jason Kozemczak (@jak) October 27, 2020
Hey @spotify, before I cancel my account with you anything to say regarding this? Does seeking audience numbers justify this? Very disappointing. https://t.co/dJ48aWpb8m
— David Hughes (@davidhughes) October 27, 2020
I really don’t want to cancel my Spotify subscription, but like, this is literally an attack vector for misinformation. https://t.co/FpZScEwmWr
— Terry Gotham (@TerryGotham) October 27, 2020
Joe Rogan again gives a voice and platform to dangerous nonsense and egregiously uncritical thinking. If you’re a fan, give this episode a pass. Do better Joe. pic.twitter.com/8OdhxYL6iv
— Kyle Hill (@Sci_Phile) October 28, 2020
And so on.
I actually caught the first half hour of this when it went up on YouTube yesterday, and from what I saw Rogan and his assistant Jamie were being very careful to fact-check every single thing Alex Jones was saying, calling him out when he said something inaccurate and acknowledging when he got something right. Which is the way it should be, right? As opposed to banning/deplatforming someone which could make it seem as though they have information that the “elites” don’t want you to get hold of. Better to have them say what they want to say on a public forum, and it can then be dissected so that the truth can eventually rise to the top.
Not an anti-vaxxer by any means (quite the opposite), but even WHO and the UN have reported polio outbreaks due to dodgy vaccines:
The problem is of course that Alex Jones has a habit of taking tiny bits of real data and extrapolating entire conspiracy theories out of them, but if he’s being called out on his bullshit at the same time so that we can filter through the nuggets of truth, then that’s OK in my book.
After all, it turned out he was right about Jeffrey Epstein and his paedophile island, when people were calling him crazy all those years ago. Sure he might be wrong about more things than he’s right about, but how will we ever know unless we allow the man a platform to share his views?
Anyway, others were happy to see Rogan do his thing and not cow to the mob:
.@joerogan flexing on Spotify employees and letting them know who’s in charge (for now) pic.twitter.com/gMlKDDr0O5
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) October 27, 2020
Much respect to Joe Rogan for having Alex Jones back on.
Eventually we need to reclaim free speech on all social networks or leave these authoritarian sneaks in the dust.
— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) October 28, 2020
LOOOOOL Spotify tried to censor and cancel joe rogan and he just goes fuck you here’s Alex Jones 😭😭😭😭
— TheArtOfWar🗿 (@TheArtOfWar6) October 27, 2020
You can catch the full episode below:
Wonder what the Spotify CEO makes of all this? Last month he defended keeping a bunch of ‘transphobic’ episodes online after a number of employees complained. As long as Rogan keeps raking in $$$, I doubt he’ll be too bothered.
