Brené Brown Resuming Her Spotify Podcasts After Pausing Them Over Joe Rogan Controversy, Cites ‘Few Options’

After “pausing” her Spotify podcasts during the media-created Joe Rogan controversy, researcher and author Brené Brown has announced she will unpause, claiming she has “few options.”

When Brown announced her pause on January 29, her decision was hailed by some as a turning point in the media and elite’s attempts to cancel Rogan. MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace, for example, called Brown’s decision a “Huge Deal.”

“Huge deal – adding her movement and her highly engaged community to the Spotify boycott is [sic] very big deal – she’s a leader of CEOs, celebs and MUCH more importantly: humans aspiring to be better humans – people follow [Brené Brown] where she leads,” Wallace tweeted.

But people didn’t follow Brown’s lead, and now she’s announced she will resume her podcasts, The New York Times reported.

“As you may or may not know, I’m under a multiyear, exclusive contract with Spotify,” Brown wrote on her website. “Unlike some creators, I don’t have the option of pulling my work from the platform.”

Brown went on to criticize Rogan for various things he has said and done in the past.

“If advertisers and listeners support ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ and Spotify needs him as the cornerstone of its podcasting ambitions — that’s OK,” Brown wrote. “But sharing the table with Rogan puts me in a tremendous values conflict with very few options.”

The Left has made several recent attempts to get Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” pulled from Spotify. Initially, they cited alleged “misinformation” about COVID-19. Singer Neil Young threatened to pull his music from the platform if Rogan wasn’t dropped; when that didn’t happen, Spotify removed Young’s music as he requested. Other aging rockers and podcast hosts followed suit, yet Spotify stood by Rogan.

Then a group released an out-of-context montage of Rogan using the n-word. Rogan posted a video addressing the montage, The Daily Wire reported:

At the start of the post, Rogan said he has seen a video compilation of him using the word, which he said was “out of context,” adding that this is the “most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about.”

“There’s been a lot of s*** from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had said differently. This is my take on the worst of it,” the Instagram post is captioned. 

The host said he was “never calling anyone the word,” but “just saying it out loud.”

“I never thought it would be cut out of context and put in a compilation video,” he said, adding that watching the video “makes me sick.”

“It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use,” Rogan said. “I’m very well aware of that now.”

“I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist,” he continued. “But whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say, ‘I’m not racist,’ you f***ed up. And I clearly have f***ed up.”

“There’s nothing I could do to take that back,” Rogan said. “I do hope that, if anything, it can be a teachable moment.”

Spotify still stood by Rogan, with CEO Daniel Ek saying “canceling voices is a slippery slope.”

“Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress,” Ek added.