Rumble, the Canadian video sharing website favored by the right, is eager to be the new home of the Joe Rogan Experience and all of its episodes, including those featuring racial slurs and other derogatory language.
The public plea from Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski was shared on the platform’s Twitter account, with Pavlovski offering Rogan “100 million bucks over four years” for the exclusive rights to his podcast. That ostensibly matches the deal Rogan struck with Spotify in 2020; the exact terms of that deal were never announced, though, so maybe Pavlovski is actually lowballing Rogan if he did net over $100 million from Spotify as originally reported (the exact length of Rogan’s contract with Spotify is also unknown).
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski… pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
— Rumble 🏴☠️ (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
Pavolvski’s short note read in full: “We stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation. So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place. How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years? This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit.”
Rumble’s offer comes after Spotify removed over 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, ostensibly because they contained repeated uses of the n-word and other offensive language. While Rogan and his podcast have also come under fire for hosting Covid-19 misinformation, episodes boasting prominent pandemic and vaccine skeptics remain on Spotify (albeit with a “content advisory” warning).
Despite pulling the controversial episodes and slapping the advisory warning on certain episodes, Spotify does not appear ready or eager to cut ties with Rogan. In an internal company letter, CEO Daniel Ek condemned Rogan’s repeated use of the n-word and other offensive language, but insisted the host had changed and added that “canceling voices is a slippery slope” (Rogan, too, has apologized for his past use of the n-word). Additionally, Ek tried to quell frustration by committing to an incremental investment of $100 million to develop and market music and audio materials from “historically marginalized groups.”
From Rolling Stone US
