The Joe Rogan Experience officially moved over to Spotify on Tuesday — but a number of his podcast episodes didn’t come along for the ride. Many of the comedian’s fans on Tuesday noticed episodes featuring Alex Jones, Chris D’Elia and Milo Yiannopoulos, among other guests, are missing from Rogan’s podcast archive on Spotify.
Jones and Yiannopolous are far-right political commentators, while comedian D’Elia is facing sexual misconduct accusations. Reps for Spotify did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. It’s unclear if the episodes will eventually hit Rogan’s slate or will continue to remain off the app.
Rogan’s move to Spotify comes after signing an exclusive deal worth about $100 million back in May. Spotify — the world’s largest music streaming service, with 138 million paying subscribers — has doubled down on its podcasting efforts this year, signing additional deals with Kim Kardashian, DC Comics and Bill Simmons’ The Ringer in an effort to pull in more listeners. (You can read more about Spotify’s podcasting ambitions here.)
Fans don’t seem thrilled with Rogan’s move to Spotify, though, if it means certain episodes are going to be unavailable. Additional episodes missing from Spotify’s slate feature guests like Nick Kroll, Michael Shermer, Gavin McInnes and Joey Diaz. Their absence led some fans to tweet their displeasure, with some accusing Spotify of censoring Rogan’s podcast.
Spotify censoring or straight removing certain older episodes of @joerogan's podcast is pretty messed up.
— rdaneel.eth (@rdaneel_eth) September 1, 2020
Well, I guess that whole “Joe Rogan is moving his podcast to Spotify to avoid pesky censorship” narrative didn’t take long to age terribly, huh? Big yikes.
— Jordan Patu (@Jordan_Patu) September 1, 2020
https://twitter.com/z_libertarian/status/1300852044815896578?s=20
Apparently, in addition to the wrongthink people @joerogan on his show, @Spotify isnt uploading podcasts from his 'controversial' comedian friends like @chrisdelia and some episodes of @madflavor.
Perhaps its time for a new podcasting king? Love Joe, just saying.
— Defederate (@Americtology) September 1, 2020
Spotify’s stock price since signing Rogan has rocketed higher, jumping about 80 % since mid-May. The company is trading at $291 per share on Tuesday.
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