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The UFC commentator made his Spotify debut this week but not all of his episodes were included.
Earlier this week, Joe Rogan made his long-awaited debut on Spotify. However, dozens of his most controversial episodes with far-right figures and conspiracy theorists are not included.
Among the episodes omitted from the new Joe Rogan Experience channel include interviews with conspiracy monger Alex Jones, far-right figures David Seaman and Owen Benjamin, as well as Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. Other vanished episodes include an interview with comedian Chirs D’Elia, who was recently accused of sexual misconduct with underage women, and even Tommy Chong.
The episodes available on Spotify date back to 2009 and include over 1,500 episodes. Rogan’s exclusivity deal with the streaming service is reportedly valued at approx. $100 million.
It remains unclear whether the episodes were removed by Spotify or if Rogan himself had requested that the episodes be removed. Mikhaila Peterson, daughter of the controversial professor Jordan Peterson and founder of the absurd “lion diet”, took to twitter to criticize the decision:
Okay. Getting demonetized from @youtube is one thing. At least they didn’t shut down my channel. However this is COMPLETELY different. ?
?@spotify is NOT uploading select @joerogan episodes including my episode. pic.twitter.com/r4HCPhr35j— Mikhaila Peterson (@MikhailaAleksis) September 1, 2020
Over the past decade, Rogan has hosted a wide range of characters that fall across the entire political spectrum, including liberals, conservatives, reactionaries, innocuous weirdos, conspiracy theorists, and snake oil salesmen. His list of guests include the likes of Edward Snowden, Richard Dawkins, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Jesse Ventura, Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., Elon Musk, Bob Lazar, Roseanne Barr, Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, and Mike Tyson. There is no common denominator between the aforementioned guests except for their status as well-known figures.
However, Rogan has hosted several figures who should not have been offered such expansive platforms. These include Alex Jones, who promotes conspiracy theories on his InfoWars network such as white genocide, vaccines, and climate change denial. Some of his most despicable actions include claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 were false flag operations, which led to parents of victims and survivors being harassed and threatened.
Despite Jones’ reputation, Rogan still referred to him as the “most misunderstood guy on the planet” in 2019.