The hosts of ABC’s “The View” appeared to support the idea of audio platform Spotify making a move to at least warn listeners that they could be exposed to “misinformation” if they listened to podcast juggernaut Joe Rogan.
“So apparently Joe Rogan has the most popular podcast on Spotify, and he’s repeatedly spread COVID misinformation and invited guests on to do the same,” Whoopi Goldberg began. “Rock legend Neil Young has said he’s pulling his music off Spotify because he doesn’t want to be on the same platform as Joe Rogan, but Howard Stern who says he’s no fan of Rogan’s views, is defending his right to say them.”
Goldberg then played a clip of Stern addressing the issue: “I don’t think Neil Young is for censorship. I just think he’s saying, look, I don’t want to be part of this organization. If my music is helping people bring to the table and they’re spreading something as lethal as don’t take the vaccine, do this. I’m against any kind of censorship really. I really am. I don’t like censorship.”
WATCH:
HOWARD STERN SAYS DON’T CANCEL ROGAN OVER VAX VIEWS: After rock legend Neil Young demanded his music be removed from Spotify in protest of Joe Rogan spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine on his podcast, #TheView panel reacts to Stern’s take. https://t.co/HwcLhG1gxm pic.twitter.com/4Aw38rWxmP
— The View (@TheView) January 26, 2022
“Spotify hasn’t weighed in on this yet, but I guess the question really is, who’s – who should be spearheading this? Should it be Spotify?” Goldberg asked. “When you have someone like Neil Young who says, I don’t want to be part of that because it’s misinformation that’s hurting people, where is Spotify? Is it Spotify’s job to pick this up and run with the ball?”
“No, no. It’s not Spotify’s job. We have a First Amendment in this country. You can’t pick and choose when you want to use the First Amendment,” Joy Behar replied.
Former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin pushed back, saying that she wasn’t sure she agreed with Behar.
“I’ll tell you what I think. I think Joe Rogan is a horror, a horror,” Behar continued, saying that the best way to counter “bad speech” was with “more speech” and with individuals choosing to boycott Spotify.
“I admire Neil Young for doing this. He’s from the ’60s where musicians took political stands. They don’t let things go. I don’t see many others taking a stand. That will be legitimate. It’s not a cancel culture. It’s a consequence culture, and the way we handle it is we don’t buy Spotify. We ignore Spotify,” Behar added.
The panel went on to suggest that Spotify could simply remove episodes that were determined to contain “misinformation” or introduce a disclaimer to Rogan’s show.
“You give people a platform to counter what he’s spewing or the guests that he’s having on. … You have to do something to mitigate that,” guest co-host Lisa Ling said, adding that Spotify would never remove Rogan because he made too much money for them – but they should be required to add a disclaimer to his show.
Hostin noted that because Spotify was a private company, the First Amendment — which restricts the government from limiting speech — did not really apply.
“The thing about Joe Rogan is his popularity. Sunny mentioned the 11 million listeners per episode. People are hungry for conversations,” co-host Sara Haines added. “He has a three-hour conversation with his guests and he brings on opposing views. In fact, he doesn’t see that as platforming them. He had Dr. Gupta on a month ago. He has had controversial guests like Alex Jones and that one was removed. I think people are hungry to have open conversations, disagreements, debates, and they don’t want to be told how to feel about it. They want those people to have their conversation, and they want it to be up to them just like when they watch TV and media and news. They want to make their own decision.”