In January this year, American music veteran Neil Young removed his music from Spotify. The musician could not tolerate the streaming platform hosting a podcast by Joe Rogan, a comedian who allowed for disinformation regarding vaccines on his show. Rogan, the most hosted a COVID-19 vaccine sceptic named Robert Malone on his show. In a now-deleted letter, Young said, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” Rogan has the most listened-to podcasts on Spotify.
Neil Young, on the other hand, suffered from polio in his childhood–when there was no vaccine. So did Joni Mitchell, who supported his boycott and removed her music from Spotify, too. Both Young and Mitchell understand the importance of vaccines and would preferably not want others to fall into the trap of fake news. Not so Joe Rogan, who thrives on it.
Rogan’s podcast audience is mostly young males who lap up the kind of fake news he’s serving. His is a textbook case of fake news. Rogan calls himself a comedian, which means everything on his show is good banter. Nothing is supposed to be taken that seriously. And yet it has a very real impact because if it was just banter, so many people would tune in to a 3-hour-long podcast. Fake news presented as entertainment is the most effective in its spread.
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