Neil Young Demands Spotify Delete His Music Because Of Joe Rogan's 'Vaccine Misinformation'
The singer has given the streaming service a stunning ultimatum: "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."
Neil Young has laid down the gauntlet for Spotify and has given them an incredible ultimatum.
The Harvest Moon singer declared he wants his music removed from the streaming service because of Joe Rogan's podcast.
In an open letter to his music label and management, the singer wrote: "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines - potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.
"Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.
"I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both."
Spotify has forked out ten of millions of dollars to host The Joe Rogan Experience and the podcast has come under fire for some of the guests that have come on the show.
These interviewees have been allowed to express their anti-vaccine sentiments, usually without much challenge from Rogan, and these views have been broadcast to listeners all over the world.
However, a campaign has been slowly building against Rogan for the way he's spoken about coronavirus and the vaccine since the pandemic began.
A group of 270 doctors, science teachers, and physicians recently co-signed a letter to get Spotify to discipline Rogan and The Joe Rogan Experience for allegedly promoting Covid-19 misinformation.
The letter was prompted after he interviewed controversial virologist Dr Robert Malone, who made wild and unfounded claims about the vaccine, and has been banned from Twitter for his promotion of misleading information.
The letter reads: "With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world's largest podcast and has tremendous influence,
"Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy."
Attached to the letter was a thorough fact-check of the information provided on the podcast.
Dr Ben Rein, a neuroscientist from Stanford University and co-signatory to the letter, added: "People who don't have the scientific or medical background to recognize the things he's saying are not true and are unable to distinguish fact from fiction are going to believe what [Malone is] saying, and this is the biggest podcast in the world. And that's terrifying."
The letter didn't demand that Rogan be taken off Spotify, or the episode featuring Dr Malone be taken down.
They simply ask for Spotify to develop a policy for dealing with misinformation.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Entertainment, Celebrity, joe rogan, Neil Young, Spotify
Stewart Perrie