Jon Stewart Has Message For Artists Leaving Spotify Over Joe Rogan: "Don’t Censor, Engage”

In a new episode of The Problem with Jon Stewart, Stewart said that artists leaving Spotify because of Joe Rogan are making "a mistake".

Jon Stewart is calling for Spotify users to put their weapons down. The former host of The Daily Show went on his Apple TV+ podcast The Problem With Jon Stewart to discuss Joe Rogan's COVID misinformation controversy. Stewart also took aim at artists choosing to leave Spotify because of Rogan's comments, saying they are making "a mistake".

“There’s no question that there is egregious misinformation that’s purposeful and hateful and all those other things," Stewart said.

Stewart even went as far as offering examples of The Joe Rogan Experience episodes where Rogan was proven wrong about COVID-19 misinformation. In one episode, Rogan was joined by Australian media personality Josh Szeps when the two discussed whether the vaccine was more likely to make patients vulnerable to myocarditis. Rogan offered to look it up and stood corrected.

“If you are an ideologue or if you are a dishonest person, that is the moment. Like, Tucker Carlson in that situation never would have looked it up and would’ve given that look he gives, like somebody’s giving him a confusion enema.”

After seeing this, Stewart said that artists choosing to leave Spotify because of Rogan should adopt a new strategy: “Don’t leave, don’t abandon, don’t censor, engage.”

Stewart also joins the ranks of those in support of Rogan, including Spotify CEO Daniel Eks who addressed the JRE podcast during a 15-minute town hall speech on Wednesday.

“A publisher has editorial control over a creator’s content — they can take action on the content before it’s even published,” Ek said. “Even though JRE is an exclusive, it is licensed content. It is important to note that we do not have creative control over Joe Rogan’s content. We don’t approve his guests in advance, and just like any other creator, we get his content when he publishes, and then we review it, and if it violates our policies, we take the appropriate enforcement actions.”