Freedom of speech has been a bit of a fickle thing of late, particularly when it comes to discussing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – a global event that his both wildly strange and unprecedented in our modern time.
So, of course there are going to be a number of varying opinions about the nature of the beast. Heck, even the CDC and the nation’s top doctors have consistently shifted their guidance regarding the illness. (We were told not to wear masks for the first several months of the crisis, for instance).
But these days, speaking astray of the “official” story appears to be some sort of irredeemable sin, and Canadian rock legend Neil Young can’t seem to stomach it. At all.
Neil Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that they remove his music from Spotify. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” he continued. “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” Young is referencing the steady stream of misinformation about vaccines that Joe Rogan has peddled on The Joe Rogan Experience. Last month, 270 doctors, physicians, and science educators signed an open letter asking Spotify to stop spreading Rogan’s baseless claims.
Young then tried to tell Spotify how to do their job.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” the letter reads. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
Joe Rogan is undoubtedly one of the most popular content creators on the platform, and it would be incredibly surprising to find Neil Young’s “open letter” having any effect at all.
