By Damon Linker, The Week
There’s something odd about the protest against Spotify’s mega-podcaster Joe Rogan.
It started when folk-rocker Neil Young issued an ultimatum: Rogan shouldn’t be spreading skepticism about vaccines, so either he goes or I do. When Spotify refused to break its multimillion-dollar deal with Rogan, Young made good on his threat, pulling his music from the streaming platform. Then singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell did the same, followed by some lower-profile acts. Rumors about bigger artists (Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones) joining the exodus have been swirling for days, so far with no confirmations.
What’s strange about this effort to deplatform Rogan is that his popularity preceded, and made possible, his deal with Spotify. If the protest succeeds in getting him booted, he can simply go back to making his podcast available on other platforms or launch his own. A “win” would merely allow certain politically progressive artists to end their tacit association with a personality whose brand is the puncturing of liberal pieties.
