The soul singer, who recently removed her song from Spotify, also blasts the platform, saying, 'We have this person who is offensive to a lot of people and is paid $100 million.'
- Feb 5, 2022
AceShowbiz - India.Arie is doubling down on her stance in Joe Rogan's COVID-19 misinformation controversy. After announcing that she decided to remove her music and podcast from Spotify, the musician has now shared some clips of the Ultimate Fighting Championship color commentator using N-word and insulting black people.
On Thursday, February 3, the soul singer shared clips which saw Joe referring to black neighborhoods as "Planet of the Apes" in an episode of his podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience". He could also be heard carelessly saying "n***er" on-air in several episodes.
"He shouldn't even be uttering the word. Don't even say it, under any context," she said. "Don't say it. That's where I stand. I have always stood there."
India also blasted Spotify, saying, "We have this person who is offensive to a lot of people and is paid $100 million. The backbone of Spotify is the music. You pay the musicians .003-.005 percent of a penny and take this money generated over here and use it to invest in this guy? Do you what you want, but take me off. Or pay me too. I mean us. Pay artists like me too. Pay podcasters of color too."
India followed in Neil Young's steps in removing their music from the platform after Joe was accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation through his podcast. "Neil Young opened a door that I MUST walk through. I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid interviews. For me, it's also his language around race," she wrote on Instagram on Monday. Also removing their music from Spotify amid the controversy are Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren.
As for Joe, the comedian reacted to the controversy in an Instagram video. "These podcasts are very strange because they're just conversations... And oftentimes I have no idea what I'm going to talk about until I sit down and talk to people. And that's why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out because I'm literally having them in real time," he argued.
"But I do my best and they're just conversations, and I think that's also the appeal of the show. It's one of the things that makes it interesting," Joe went on to say. "So I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I'm very sorry that this is happening to them and that they're taking so much from it."
