Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Music streaming giant Spotify has quietly removed 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast amid a weeks-long exodus from the platform started by Neil Young.
Young, who was joined by Joni Mitchell and Crazy Horse band member Nils Lofgren, pulled his music from the platform in protest of COVID-19 "misinformation" on Rogan's popular podcast.
Others soon announced they would also remove their content including former Young bandmates Crosby, Stills and Nash, the pop-punk band Eve 6, and singer India Arie. Podcasters Roxane Gay and Mary Trump said they would remove their shows while Brené Brown said she would pause hers.
The episodes of Rogan's podcast which were removed Friday were recorded between 2009 and 2018, before the pandemic began, Variety noted. It was not immediately clear why the episodes were pulled.
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- Spotify removing Neil Young catalogue after ultimatum over Joe Rogan
In her announcement on Instagram, Arie said that she finds Rogan problematic "for reasons other than his COVID interviews."
"For me, it's also his language around race," Arie said, before sharing a video compilation of 24 times Rogan has used racial slurs in his podcast.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Rogan responded to Arie's compilation and said his use of the racial slur was "the most regretful and shameful thing" and that he "never used it to be racist."
"I know that to most people, there is no context where a White person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now," Rogan said.
Rogan has also previously faced criticism for referring to transgender female MMA fighter Fallon Fox as a "man" and featuring guests including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of Infowars and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, who used Rogan's show to argue that Muslim people are inbred.
Meanwhile, some in music and entertainment have taken to defending Spotify during the controversy -- including former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and former Mumford and Sons banjoist Winston Marshall, Consequence of Sound reported.
Stewart said during an episode of his Apple TV+ podcast The Problem with Jon Stewart that the decision by artists to leave Spotify is a "mistake" and that those who disagree with Rogan should use the opportunity to discuss their views with him.
"Don't leave. Don't abandon. Don't censor. Engage," Stewart said.
Marshall, who now works as a conservative columnist, called the protest a "clear stand against the cultural norm of free speech."
