Joe Rogan claims ex-presidents spent ‘a lot of money’ to oust him from Spotify over COVID views

Podcast host Joe Rogan alleged Wednesday that former U.S. presidents personally contacted Spotify in an organized effort to remove his show from the platform over his skeptical commentary on COVID-19 vaccines and lockdowns — claims that remain unverified and unsubstantiated by any independent reporting.

Mr. Rogan made the allegations during a new episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” sitting down with behavior expert and author Chase Hughes to discuss social media, influence and how he navigated an onslaught of critics during the pandemic. 

“I can’t even talk about it, but there [were] presidents involved — and former presidents involved — that were contacting Spotify,” Mr. Rogan said, according to Fox News. “Trying to get me removed for vaccine misinformation. And it turned out to be right. All of it. Not a single [person] apologized.”

Mr. Rogan did not name the former presidents or political action committees he claimed were involved and offered no documentary evidence to support the assertions. No current or former president has publicly acknowledged contacting Spotify about Mr. Rogan’s podcast.

Mr. Rogan said his show lost a significant number of sponsors during the pandemic despite its massive following, over statements he made about vaccines and pandemic-era lockdowns. 

“There was a lot of coordination,” Mr. Rogan added, saying he declines to elaborate because the matter is “pretty deep.” He described the alleged effort as well-funded: “They spent a lot of money. A lot of money. It wasn’t a small amount of money, it wasn’t a small amount of people. It was a lot of people, and a lot of money. That part was spooky.”

Mr. Rogan said Spotify’s Swedish ownership ultimately worked in his favor. “Thank God I was on Spotify, and thank God Spotify is not an American company,” he said, adding that his top ranking in roughly 90 countries gave him additional leverage.

The controversy over Mr. Rogan’s COVID commentary came to a head in 2022, when musician Neil Young pulled his entire catalog from Spotify in protest, saying he no longer wanted to share the platform with the podcaster. Spotify ultimately added content advisory labels to podcast episodes discussing COVID-19. 

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek addressed the uproar during a February 2022 earnings call, saying the company does not alter its policies in response to a single creator or media cycle.

“Our policies have been carefully written with the input from numbers of internal and external experts in this space — and I do believe they’re right for our platform,” Mr. Ek said. 

Mr. Rogan was previously accused of spreading misinformation after telling listeners he would not get vaccinated if he were young and in good health and after claiming to have treated his own COVID-19 infection with a regimen that included ivermectin.