On Sunday night, Joe Rogan addressed the brewing controversy that has surrounded him since Canadian music legends Neil Young and Joni Mitchell respectively decided to pull their music from Spotify, a streaming platform they previously shared with the podcast host.
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In a nearly 10-minute-long video, Rogan, who has been accused for spreading “vaccine misinformation” by Young, Mitchell, and countless others, defended himself. “I think there’s a lot of people that have a distorted perception of what I do, maybe based on sound bites or based on headlines,” he said.
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The podcast host then referenced two episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience that have been deemed “dangerous.” One with a cardiologist, Dr. Peter McCullough and another with Dr. Robert Malone, who owns nine patents on the creation of mRNA technology.
According to Rogan, Malone “is at least partially responsible for the creation of the technology that led to mRNA vaccines.” Referring to McCullough and Malone, Rogan says “both [of] these people are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people and they have an opinion that’s different from the mainstream narrative.”
“I’m not trying to promote misinformation, I’m not trying to be controversial,” Rogan added. “I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people. I do all the scheduling myself, and I don’t always get it right.”
As for the boycotting of Spotify from Young and Mitchell, Rogan said he was “very sorry that they feel that way,” before admitting that he was still a fan of both artists, even sharing a personal story of a Young concert he attended in his youth.
In January, 270 medical professionals wrote an open letter to Spotify, accusing the streaming platform of broadcasting “misinformation.”
Mitchell shared the letter on her own website before following in Young’s footsteps and removing her musical catalogue from Spotify.
In his video, Rogan says he has a problem with the term “misinformation” itself. “Many of the things that we thought of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact. Like, for instance, eight months ago if you said if you get vaccinated you can still catch COVID and you can still spread COVID, you’d be removed from social media… now that’s accepted as fact.”
“I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist. I’m just a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them. Do I get things wrong? Absolutely,” he admits.
Rogan concluded his video message by addressing both his fans and critics: “If I pissed you off, I’m sorry, and if you enjoy the podcast, thank you.”
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