Debate Erupts Over R. Kelly Being On Spotify Amidst Joe Rogan Scandal

Unless you’ve been living under a socially-conscious-free rock, the debate calling for Spotify to remove its popular podcaster Joe Rogan has been all that anyone can talk about. While music legends Neil Young and Joni Mitchell originally jumpstarted the movement by blasting The Joe Rogan Experience host for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, R&B icon India.Arie went a step further and brought up his decade of using the N-Word and even at one point referring to a Black neighborhood as “The Planet Of The Apes.” CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR APP AND TAKE US WITH YOU ANYWHERE! https://twitter.com/HOWDEBODI/status/1489544478071439362 Following the “Brown Skin” singer’s brave public shaming of Rogan, the Black community collectively banded together to cancel Joe Rogan and call out Spotify for not taking immediate action to remove him from its platform. The situation only intensified when the company’s CEO, Daniel Ek, went public to confirm that Spotify would not be “silencing” its $100 million investment, although adding in his staff memo that Spotify will be making “an incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups.”

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If that sounded like Spotify putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound, you’re definitely not alone in your frame of thinking. Join Our Text Club To Get The Latest Music, Entertainment, Contests And Breaking News On Your Phone. Text MAGIC to 23845 to join! Surprisingly — well, probably not depending on how well-versed you are in America’s long history of racial tension — Rogan found himself being defending by not only the Spotify CEO but also a sizable amount of supports on social media. A handful of users, many of them white, called out Black liberals specifically for not forgiving Rogan’s public apology yet staying silent about the fact that infamous R&B-king-turned-sexual-predator R. Kelly still has all his music on Spotify. While most would agree that his music should definitely be removed from all music platforms (see: #MuteRKelly ), bringing up R. Kelly to defend Joe Rogan is a double-negative that simply just ain’t it.

Take a look below at the social media war currently going on via Twitter regarding Joe Rogan, R. Kelly, Spotify and the overall ethics of race when it comes to cancel culture:

1. Imagine threatening to boycott Spotify over Joe Rogan but not R Kelly.

https://twitter.com/_bbritt8/status/1488269301031211012

via @_bbritt8

2. We live in a world where multiple things can be true. Joe Rogan, Bill Cosby and R.Kelly can all be kicked off of Spotify for all I care. Robert been blocked on my Spotify account for a while now. And I don’t listen to the other two.

https://twitter.com/JustCallMeBeu/status/1490859136917344258

via @JustCallMeBeu

3. R. Kelly's entire catalog is available on Spotify, for those of you who think this @joerogan controversy is about anything more than canceling him for the sake of a failing mainstream media.

via @TheCaffeinePunk

4. Are they suggesting liberals weren't critical enough of Bill Cosby and R. Kelly? Does R. Kelly have a Spotify podcast? What's happening here?

https://twitter.com/EyesOnTheRight/status/1490840244773875712

via @EyesOnTheRight

5. Billy Cosby and R. Kelly are still on spotify, but tell me more about how Joe Rogan is the problem

via @CalebJHull

6. Actually they removed R. Kelly from playlists and blocked him from algorithm engagement. Neither of them were offered $100m for the agenda to disguise racism and misinformation as “alternative opinions and free speech”. Try again.

via @trapcry

7. So the Liberals attacking Rogan are ignoring R Kelly & Cosby? You mean the same R Kelly who is about to be sentenced for child trafficking & the same Bill who was tries convicted & sent to prison before being released on a technicality? WTF does this even mean?

via @1DickCoughlan

8. R. Kelly still has all of his stuff on Spotify, but they're focusing all their energy on Joe Rogan. Only 1 of these men was found guilty of child sex trafficking numerous girls, as young as 14.

via @AnOpenSecret

9. Neil Young and those harpies on The View had no problem when Spotify had songs by R. Kelly, who is a bonafide pedophile and abuser, but now have their collective panties in a bunch over Joe Rogan, who hasn’t done anything but have a conversation. Make it all make sense…

via @ZeekArkham

10. Hey @Spotify , how many R Kelly songs have you removed?

via @BigP4H

11. Is R. Kelly still on @spotify ? Asking for a friend. Cuz @joerogan and I are like this. But seriously, is he? Cuz that would be weird.

via @thevivafrei