I’m sure you have all heard of the hit podcast: The Joe Rogan Experience. Recently, as I’m sure you are all aware as informed citizens of the electronic age, Joe Rogan and Spotify have come under fire for the spread of misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine on the podcast itself. Now, this isn’t Mr. Rogan’s first time in the metaphorical ring of controversy. In 2019 he came under fire for having conservative speaker Jordan Peterson on his show, as well as the Infowars host himself Alex Jones. Joe Rogan has also taken to some alternative medicinal advice. Peddling the myth that the horse dewormer Ivermectin can cure Covid-19 (it can’t). Joe Rogan has also cast doubt on the viability of the Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, only adding fuel to the fire.

So where this controversy starts is Neil Young came out and gave Spotify an ultimatum: Deplatform Joe Rogan or he will pull his entire catalog of music from Spotify. While I should maintain journalistic neutrality, if such a thing should exist, I can’t help but feel this squabble is all a bit like a broken pencil. Pointless. If Neil Young wants to pull his music off of Spotify that is his right as an artist. But man, there are so many more important things. Why are we, as consumers, so enraptured by these petty squabbles that drive the celebrity world. A world of vapid excess and debauchery. I mean Neil Young needs to read the room here, Joe Rogan is one of the biggest revenue streams that Spotify has, and to be honest I hadn’t even heard of Neil Young until this. He’s kicking and screaming a throwing a multi-million dollar temper tantrum.

This isn’t to say you can’t criticize Joe Rogan either, but if Neil Young wanted to actually make a change in Spotify, he shouldn’t have gone from 0-100 as quickly as he did, it looks childish. Young could have taken multiple avenues to discredit or criticize Joe Rogan, but he choose to give Spotify an ultimatum between himself or the biggest podcast on Earth, and to nobody’s surprise Spotify dropped Neil Young. Spotify has also put trigger warnings about Covid-19 misinformation before Joe Rogan’s podcast, so they’re not necessarily doing nothing. 

Thus here we are. Neil Young has left Spotify and nothing really has changed. Joe Rogan still has a platform and is still an idiot. All in all, it was a pointless endeavor. One that resulted in a lot of publicity for both Neil Young and Joe Rogan.