Spotify boss Daniel Ek has said that although he “strongly” condemns racial slurs and other comments made by US podcast host Joe Rogan, he is not removing him from the platform.
Ek’s comments were made in a letter sent to staff, which has been seen by Reuters and Hollywood Reporter.
It follows Rogan’s apology over the weekend for his past use of racist language on his popular podcast. Ek said it was Rogan’s decision to remove a number of past episodes.
This follows discussions with the music streaming platform, along with Rogan’s own reflections on some of the content in The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, including the use of racially insensitive language.
Rogan apologized after a widely-shared compilation video showed him repeatedly using the N-word in early episodes of his show, which has been running for over a decade. He offered his “deepest” apologies and called his past use of the slur “shameful”.
“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said… I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” said Ek.
He believes Spotify should have clear boundaries around the content being published.
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