Joe Rogan is Not a ‘Cancel Culture’ Martyr

Joe Rogan is a miscalculation in American capitalism

This whole Joe Rogan flap is not that complicated. It’s not cancel culture. It’s pure and simple capitalism.

• Joe Rogan (https://www.facebook.com/JOEROGAN) portrays himself as a Libertarian with socially compassionate views, welcoming of rainbow XYZ. But the pious marketing hype doesn’t match his long-time record of dismissive, denigrating, and outrageously bigoted speech.
• But hey, #FreeSpeech #YouDoYouJoe. He’s being paid $1 million by Spotify to indulge and engage people who feel the same. #Capitalism
• Joe called Meghan Markle an “opportunistic hussy”. Hey, his right to free speech. But Prince Harry and Meghan, who are also Spotify content creators, are now wondering if this is the best platform for them. It’s not about “cancelling” Joe Rogan (although he’s clearly bathing in the imaginary martyrdom), it’s about finding a platform with standards.
• Likewise, Barack and Michelle Obama have multiple podcasts under their production company Higher Standards. Joe Rogan uses the ’n’ word freely. Why should they host their podcasts on a platform that allows that? Why should they invest their time and talent pulling in eyeballs (or in this case, earballs) to a platform that indulges that? It’s not like they don’t have other choices. #FreeMarket
• It’s not about “cancelling” Joe Rogan. It’s about making smart hosting choices that fit your niche. Spotify chose to invest $1 million in Joe because of his large “populist” base. But now it’s hemorrhaging other content creators. #ChoicesHaveConsequences
• And that’s because it isn’t just about Joe Rogan. Spotify has been hosting Aryan Nation and white nationalist content for a long time. It had to delete over 150 hours after Sky News did a deep reveal of its racist content.
• Spotify threw too much money at what it saw as a “key creator” and didn’t concern itself with its other infrastructure creators. That’s not “cancel culture”. That’s a bad business decision.
• Spotify has chosen to go down the #RacistRabbithole and that’s their free market choice.
• Sorry, Rogan fans, but he’s not a martyr. He’s just an unwise investment. And heads will probably be rolling at Spotify HQ.
• Meanwhile, you can bet that Joe Rogan’s apologia was dictated by the people who write his paychecks.