Demands to Boycott Spotify Rise as Podcast Host Joe Rogan Tells Listeners to “Vote Republican”

By: Fern Sidman

It appears that podcast king Joe Rogan has ruffled some feathers once again. According to a report in the New York Post, over the weekend Rogan told his listeners that he is planning to vote for Republican party candidates in the upcoming midterm elections. His reasoning is that Democrats made “errors” in their management of the Covid pandemic, the NYP report indicated.

Roiled at Rogan’s endorsement of GOP candidates in the midterm elections and what many speculate will be a “Red Wave” come early November, Rogan’s declaration of fealty to Republican candidates has unleashed a palpable fury from those who stand in opposition to this view and as such they have been clamoring for a boycott of Spotify, the streaming service that hosts Rogan’s popular podcast, the Post reported.

Rogan’s podcast is eponymously named “The Joe Rogan Experience” and over the weekend he told his guest, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, that he and others should “vote Republican,” the Post reported.

Both Rogan and his guest were “on the same page” as it pertained to their criticism of how elected officials from the Democratic party handled the Covid crisis and the measures they took to attempt to contain the rapid spread of the deadly virus when it first emerged in early 2020.

Both Rogan and Rodgers agreed that Democratic controlled state legislatures as well as Democratic governors imposed draconian measures as it pertained to the issuance of lockdowns such as the closures of schools, businesses and restaurants, to name a few, the Post reported.

During their conversation on the podcast, Rodgers and Rogan recalled the incident when  California Governor Gavin Newsom’s dined at a restaurant without wearing a mask and in close proximity to other restaurant goers. This all took place as California had placed a ban on indoor dining.

The Post also reported that Rogan commented on his Saturday podcast, “I hope there’s lessons learned in this because this is a new thing. We had never had this before. No one that was alive today had ever experienced a true pandemic and I’m hoping that now that this is over, people are going to recognize that some serious errors were made and not repeat those.”

He added that, “As far as compensation for all of those people that were forced to close their businesses and keep their doors shuttered and lost everything they had worked for decades to build — no, they’re just going to be angry.”

In response to Rogan’s comments about his disappointment in the Democratic party establishment and the policies they set out during the Covid pandemic, a group known as  “Occupy Democrats” took to social media to lash out at Rogan. The Post reported that the group tweeted  that Rogan was “ignorantly urging Americans” to back the GOP “as a form of supposed payback for businesses closing down due to the pandemic — dangerous rhetoric as the GOP embraces full fascism.”

Many have described the “Occupy Democrats” group as a major player in the “woke, progressive and far left” cacophony of voices that are staunchly opposed to the GOP regaining power on the state and federal levels.

“If you support a boycott of Spotify until they drop Joe Rogan’s podcast … please retweet and follow us!” the group wrote, according to the Post report.  As of Wednesday morning, the tweet generated nearly 4,000 retweets and over 7,900 reactions.

In 2020, Rogan received a reported $200 million for signing an exclusive licensing deal with Spotify, the Post reported. Since that time, Rogan has found himself in the center of several explosive online controversies.

Rogan, by profession is a stand-up comedian, the Post reported and has attracted an audience of 11 million listeners to his podcast on the streaming service. Rogan’s critics, however, have not kept mum about what irks them about the podcast host. His detractors charge that Rogan is affording an influential megaphone of sorts to those who oppose vaccines in general and in particular the Covid vaccine.  They also claim that Rogan is giving a platform to those who have posed serious questions about the efficacy of coronavirus lockdown measures, the report indicated.

In their attempt to silence any divergent viewpoints and to marginalize Rogan, such celebrities have voiced their protests to Spotify by pressuring them to cancel Rogan’s podcast. The Post reported that such recording artists as Neil Young have pulled their songs from the streaming service in the hopes that Spotify will acquiesce to demands that Rogan be summarily removed.

The Post reported that other artists have joined Young such as his former band mates, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills who got their big break when they appeared on the stage at the iconic Woodstock music festival in the summer of 1969. Others who have jumped on board the bandwagon are Ava DuVernay, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren and India Arie, the Post reported.

Rogan has hosted some controversial guests including right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, which has ticked off those on the political left.

The Post reported that despite the incessant pressure, the management at Spotify have not budged in their commitment to keep Rogan on the streaming service airwaves.