Neil Young urges Spotify workers to quit as Trump tells Joe Rogan to ‘stop apologizing’

Neil Younger urged Spotify workers to give up their jobs in a contemporary assault on the corporate over its resolution to proceed giving polarizing podcaster Joe Rogan a platform.

In an announcement printed on his official web site, Younger, 76, mentioned he hoped Spotify employees would “get out of that place earlier than it eats up your soul.”

The message got here as Spotify continues to face scrutiny over its assist for Rogan regardless of the podcaster’s previous feedback spreading misinformation across the Covid-19 vaccine and his use of racist slurs on his present, “The Joe Rogan Expertise.”

Younger, who made headlines final month after demanding Spotify take away his music over Rogan’s previous feedback, instructed employees that the “massive downside” with the streaming service was actually its CEO, Daniel Ek.

“Ek pulls the strings. Get out of that place earlier than it eats up your soul,” Younger mentioned. The one targets said by EK are about numbers — not artwork, not creativity.”

The “Coronary heart of Gold” singer additionally urged musicians and different creators to “discover a higher place than SPOTIFY to be the house of your artwork.”

Younger’s feedback got here after Ek despatched out a letter to Spotify employees on Sunday apologizing for the controversy surrounding Rogan, but in addition defending the podcaster, saying he did “not consider that silencing Joe is the reply.”

The letter got here as the corporate was reported to have taken down about 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Expertise” over the weekend after Rogan publicly apologized for cases when he used the N-word in previous podcasts.

In his letter, Ek mentioned Rogan had made the choice to take away the episodes himself and mentioned he agreed with the transfer.

Rogan’s previous feedback, he mentioned, “don’t signify the values of this firm” as he emphasised that Spotify doesn’t act because the writer of “The Joe Rogan Expertise” podcast.

Nonetheless, Ek mentioned that Spotify had been in talks with Rogan and his workforce about “a number of the content material in his present, together with his historical past of utilizing some racially insensitive language.”

“Following these discussions and his personal reflections, he selected to take away quite a few episodes from Spotify,” he mentioned, noting that the podcaster had additionally “issued his personal apology over the weekend.”

The event marked the newest flip within the controversy surrounding Rogan, with the podcaster having confronted sturdy criticism over previous episodes of his present sharing misinformation in regards to the Covid-19 vaccine.

The newest wave of backlash got here after the podcaster hosted Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist who has turn out to be often known as a brand new voice within the anti-vaccination motion.

On Monday, former President Donald Trump waded into the talk, calling on Rogan to “cease apologizing” for his previous feedback.

“Joe Rogan is an attention-grabbing and standard man, however he’s acquired to cease apologizing to the Pretend Information and Radical Left maniacs and lunatics,” Trump mentioned in an announcement.

“What number of methods are you able to say you’re sorry? Joe, simply go about what you achieve this properly and don’t allow them to make you look weak and frightened,” he mentioned. “That’s not you and it by no means will likely be!”

Rogan’s workforce and Spotify didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from NBC Information.