Rogan claims former presidents called Spotify over his COVID commentary

Podcaster Joe Rogan claimed Tuesday that two unnamed former presidents were involved in the protest against his skeptical discussions about COVID-19. 

Spotify received backlash in 2022 for allowing Rogan, one of its biggest stars, to spread what progressive critics claimed was COVID misinformation. Musician Neil Young famously removed his content from Spotify in protest over Rogan’s rhetoric, saying he no longer wanted to share a platform with him.

“And then all of a sudden, I hear that Neil Young wants me removed from Spotify. I was like, ‘What the f— is going on? This is crazy,’” Rogan said Tuesday.

“Spotify got calls from two former presidents,” he added.

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Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young performs at the Orange Stage at the Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark, on July 1, 2016. (Reuters)

Then-Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki commented on the controversy directly. After Spotify announced it would flag podcasts that cover COVID-19, Psaki responded, “So this disclaimer, it’s a positive step, but we want every platform to continue doing more to call out misinformation while also uplifting accurate information.”

“Our hope is that all major tech platforms — and all major news sources for that matter — be responsible and be vigilant to ensure the American people have access to accurate information on something as significant as COVID-19,” she added.

But Rogan said that instead of being censored or deplatformed, “I grew by 2 million subscribers in a month.”

“People started listening,” he said, despite how his critics attacked his reputation. “And they started listening, like, ‘Oh, he’s really reasonable and pretty humble about all this stuff and just asking questions.’”

Rogan also condemned how media outlets attacked his use of Ivermectin to treat his COVID-19 by referring to it as a horse dewormer. 

“I’m, like, ‘Why aren’t you guys concentrating on the fact that a 55-year-old man is fine three days later during the worst strain?’ It was during the Delta where everybody’s freaking out. ‘This one’s going to kill us all.’ And I was fine in three days,” he said.

Podcaster Joe Rogan claimed that former presidents contacted Spotify as critics complained about him being allowed to speak on the platform. (“The Joe Rogan Experience”/PowerfulJRE YouTube channel)

Rogan described the whole experience as a “wake-up call” that opened his eyes about the liberal legacy media.

“It’s so dirty. It’s such a dirty business,” Rogan said. “God, I used to have massive respect for journalists. If I had never done this podcast, I would be your regular schmo out there with, you know, just spitting out all the company lines and all the blast all over the news.”

“I kind of liked it better then,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t think the world is filled with demons, money-hungry demons that are willing to sacrifice human lives in the pursuit of revenue.”

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Joe Rogan, the popular podcast host on Spotify, emerged as Public Enemy No.1 among many liberals who called for him to be censored during COVID. (Photo by Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)

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Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek addressed the pushback against hosting Rogan during the company’s earnings call in February 2022. 

“I think the important part here is that we don’t change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change it based on any media cycle,” the chief executive said at the time. “Our policies have been carefully written with the input from numbers of internal and external experts in this space – and I do believe they’re right for our platform.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Spotify for comment and did not receive an immediate reply.

Fox News’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.