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DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) – Popular podcaster Joe Rogan is rejecting a $100 million deal from a censorship-free platform that would allow him to part with the Big Tech world seeking to water down his content.
Even as the founder of The Joe Rogan Experience faces mounting pressure from Spotify to censor his information on COVID-19, Rogan, nonetheless, is rejecting a four-year deal offered by Rumble. Asked on Wednesday if he would accept the free speech platform’s massive offer, Rogan responded, “No, Spotify has hung in with me, inexplicably. Let’s see what happens.”
Rumble’s offer was presented to Rogan earlier this week and circulated widely across social media. Chris Pavloski, the CEO of Rumble, wrote to Rogan:
We stand with you, your guests and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation. So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place. How about you bring all your shows, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years? This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit.
Celebrity elites such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, Graham Nash, India Arie, David Crosby and Stephen Stills have announced plans to remove their music from Spotify in recent weeks, to protest the platform’s decision to continue hosting Rogan.
Spotify succumbed to pressure directed at Rogan by adding a content advisory to any publication that discusses COVID. The streaming platform boasted that it has censored over 20,000 podcasts that allegedly broke its content policies since the beginning of the pandemic. Rogan also bowed to media attacks, promising to “balance things out” when discussing controversial COVID-19 topics.
Adding to the outrage concerning his COVID-19 content, the podcaster faced more calls for censorship when a video compilation of Rogan saying the “N-word” spread across social media.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek condemned Rogan’s “racially intensive language,” but affirmed that he did not think “silencing” him would be necessary. However, over 100 of Rogan’s podcasts have been removed from the platform in recent months. Bowing to the woke mob pushback, Spotify decided to invest $100 million in the licensing, development and marketing of music and audio content produced by “historically marginalized groups.”
Like other Big Tech companies, Spotify is not alone in its censorship of conservatives. Twitter and YouTube have silenced conservative figures for years now. Political influencers such as Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Mike Lindell, Nicholas Fuentes and former president Donald Trump have been removed from the platforms.
Spotify is not alone in its censorship of conservatives.
On Facebook, it seems that censorship does not end with right-wing voices. In 2018, the Big Tech giant removed an advertisement paid for by Franciscan University of Steubenville that depicted an image of a crucifix, known as the San Damiano cross. Facebook moderators originally described the content as “shocking, sensational or excessively violent content.” Ultimately, the advertisement was restored and Facebook apologized for its “error.”
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