Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Apologizes To Staff For Joe Rogan Drama

Do y’all remember that time Joe Rogan got all whitey-whiney on his podcast while complaining about how straight white men won’t be “allowed to talk” in the future? Well, nearly a year later, straight white men are still saying things and Rogan has become the current poster child for why they probably shouldn’t be.

Spotify has already had to add a “these fools don’t actually know WTF they’re talking about” content advisory warning for podcasts discussing COVID-19 because Rogan has used his show to spread medical misinformation to people who already think YouTube is an appropriate alternative to actual healthcare credentials. But now the platform’s CEO is apologizing to his employees for all the issues Rogan’s existence is causing them after India Arie came through with receipts calling him out on being racist AF.

“There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you,” CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a note to staff a Spotify spokesperson provided to CNBC. “Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful—I want you to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.”

Ek went on to make it clear that none of his apologizing on Rogan’s behalf means Rogan would be getting the boot.

“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more,” Ek continued. “And I want to make one point very clear—I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope.”

I just wish white people were willing to admit that it’s OK for certain “voices” to slip right the hell off of that slope though.

Anyway, Ek came up with his own alternative to, simply removing Rogan from Spotify.

“Ek said Spotify will instead invest $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalized groups,” CMBC reported.

A few other things have happened since Arie called Rogan out.

Rogan apologized in that generic white boy way where racists apologize for their racism while simultaneously whitesplaining that everything was “taken out of context,” that the things were said a long time ago and that he really wasn’t saying anything racist at all.

Also, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had to apologize for supporting Rogan and explain that he didn’t smelllllllllllll the racism Rogan was cooking before jumping out loud and wrong on his behalf.

“I was not aware of his N-word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative. Learning moment for me,” he tweeted.

Finally, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeted then deleted a post where he claimed Rogan wasn’t racist because he “interacts and works with black people literally all the time” and that he knows “black friend’s of Joe’s that would swear by him.”

What Yang and Dwayne apparently fail to realize is that there’s no rationalizing the racist words that have come from Rogan’s own mouth and that his use of the n-word is only the tip of the Rogan caucasity iceberg. And Rogan doesn’t seem to realize that there’s no context that makes him referring to a Black neighborhood as the Planet of the Apes less racist.

Also, if Rogan has learned so much, why is he still out here describing people in Africa as being “from the darkest place where they’re not wearing any clothes all day and they’ve developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun,” while whitesplaining that it’s “very strange” anyone but said naked, sun-mutated Africans even call themselves Black?

Nah, but I’m sure that was also taken out of context and his “Black friends” will swear by it.