Singers India.Arie & Graham Nash Pull Music From Spotify Over Covid-19 Misinformation

Two more musicians have joined the movement started by Neil Young to pull their music from Spotify in protest of controversial comments made by Joe Rogan and guests on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.

The latest to join Young, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, the rock band Failure, and others in the move are soul artist India.Arie, and Young’s former bandmate, Graham Nash.

Nash has had his solo work removed from the platform, and in his statement posted to social media said, “There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided as not only false but dangerous.”

Arie, full name India Arie Simpson, shared her reasoning for removing the music in an Instagram post, where she wrote, “I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid Interviews. For me it’s also his language around race.”

Arie is likely referring to another recent controversial episode of Rogan’s, where he and guest Jordan Peterson began discussing terms for skin color after mentioning a black critic of Peterson’s, Michael Eric Dyson.

The interaction began when Peterson brought up that Dyson called him “A mean, angry white man,” and then followed up by saying “I am white –– actually that’s a lie too. I am kind of tan. And he was actually not black. He was sort of brown.”

After a back-and-forth, Rogan then made the bizarre comment, “Unless you are talking to someone who is like 100% African from the darkest place where they are not wearing any clothes all day and they have developed all of that melatonin to protect themselves from the sun, even the term black is weird. When you use it for people who are literally my color, it becomes very strange.”

Arie also mentioned that she took issue with Rogan’s massive $100 million contract with Spotify when musicians on the platform make much less. “What I am talking about is Respect – who gets it and who doesn’t,” Arie began the second part of her post. “paying musicians a fraction of a penny? And HIM 100M? This shows the type of company they are and the type of company that they keep.”

Rogan has claimed he will attempt to provide more accurate information in his episodes in a video response to the controversy. Spotify also announced its decision to release disclaimers next to podcast episodes that discuss Covid-19, but they still likely won’t flag instances of misinformation specifically.