Back in 2018 (a billion years ago), Spotify pulled The Alex Jones Show podcast from its platform “for violating our hate policy.” The move followed a threatened boycott from Spotify users, and the music streaming giant wasn’t alone in its move. Almost in unison, YouTube and Facebook banned and/or pulled the far-right conspiracy theorist’s content from their platforms for violating community standards, and now, Jones is causing a ruckus for Spotify again. This time, it’s down to Joe Rogan (who recently transplanted to Austin while moving to Spotify as part of a reported $100 million deal) inviting Jones (who also lives in Austin) onto The Joe Rogan Experience.
Naturally, this shindig turned into three hours of Jones spewing theories to millions of Rogan fans. This wasn’t the first time these two had met, of course, although when Rogan first ported over to Spotify, the far-right threw a fit over the Infowars host’s previous visits going missing from the archive. With Jones making an appearance for Rogan, it seems like the far-right is probably happy right now. Here’s a telling visual from comedian Tim Dillon (wearing a “Free Ghislaine” t-shirt in support of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam), who was also in attendance.
Break the fucking internet. https://t.co/Yh7wQl6WBY pic.twitter.com/AB70D9xIgK
— Tim Dillon (@TimJDillon) October 27, 2020
The trio chatted about Jones’ anti-vax-and-and-mask stances, and at the very beginning of the below three-hour video, Rogan and Jones both state their belief that Rudy Giuliani was “set up” in Borat 2. Rogan then stated that “nothing happened” while diving into his theory that Giuliani might have a “bad back,” which is why he reclined on the bed while reaching down his pants. What?
Giuliani stuff aside, people are pretty steamed to see Jones, who has remained unrepentant for his harmful Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, receive such a large platform for his misinformation. The backlash has started anew:
Congrats on paying 100 million dollars for the privilege of platforming a man who terrorized Sandy Hook parents, @Spotify.
Parents like @Nelba_MG will never forget what he did to them and you should never be able to forget having done this.
This isn’t edgy. It’s disgusting. https://t.co/myoG1h1kJZ
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) October 28, 2020
Alex Jones posted death threats against me. He called Sandy Hook a hoax and harassed mourning families. Now he is lying about #covid vaccines. His hate speech is not just vile – it’s dangerous. WTH @Spotify? https://t.co/iRXTlrnARW
— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) October 27, 2020
Here is Spotify's Joe Rogan giving Alex Jones a platform after Spotify deplatformed Jones back in 2018. https://t.co/tDjijPjNt4
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/xeni/status/1321231473257508864
Joe Rogan hosted far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his podcast today. They pushed anti-vaxx conspiracies and broadcasted banned Infowars videos. Rogan continuing to platform these far-right sickos is incredibly gross and dangerous. pic.twitter.com/ymNMm9GI5x
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) October 27, 2020
There’s been no official statement from Spotify on the matter, although months ago, Jones claimed that he had spoken to Rogan about the missing episodes from his back catalogue on Spotify. As Jones told his audience, those episodes are (according to Rogan, says Jones) staying on YouTube for a strategic reason:
“Here’s the key. Joe Rogan’s favorite 100 episodes of the last 10 years or so will be left on YouTube starting December 31 when he goes exclusively to Spotify. For this couple months no man’s land the content will be on both platforms and will be migrating over. And so that’s why the Alex Jones interview is not there. That’s why some of the other interviews are not there, because those are going to be the exclusive interviews that are left on YouTube where, in Joe’s words, they’ll probably get more views than if they were on Spotify.”
As for whether the new Joe Rogan-Alex Jones meetup will be left to stand on Spotify, only time will tell.