Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sent an email to employees Sunday to discuss what the streamer will do after clips of Joe Rogan using the N-word were revealed.
In the memo, Ek apologized profusely. Apologized some more. And reiterated his stance that he would not silence Rogan.
“There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you. I think it’s important you’re aware that we’ve had conversations with Joe and his team about some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language.”
Following these discussions and his own reflections, he chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify. He also issued his own apology over the weekend. While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”
Ek reminded employees that Spotify is not the publisher of the Joe Rogan Experience. His company has exclusive licensing rights to air the show.
Rogan apologized Friday night on Instagram.
“I’m making this video to talk about the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly. There’s a video that’s out that’s a compilation of me saying the N-word. It’s a video that’s made of clips taken out of context of me of 12 years of conversations on my podcast, and it’s all smushed together. And it looks f—ing horrible, even to me,”
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