Joe Rogan, who landed in the hot seat for controversial episodes of his Spotify podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” admitted the uproar has benefited his show.
In Friday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the commentator claimed his subscriber base expanded rapidly in recent months despite the slew of controversies surrounding him.
From being slammed over his past use of the N-word to being accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation, the host had this to say about his booming listenership despite the burning public concerns: “It’s interesting, my subscriptions went up massively — that’s what’s crazy.”
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“During the height of it all, I gained two million subscribers,” Rogan, 54, added.
Although Spotify doesn’t publicly release any specific information regarding the number of his subscribers, sources said his listenership has never plummeted amid the trouble, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rogan went on to put the “the media” on blast, specifically targeting CNN, for their coverage of the scandals.
“Yeah, [the media] went for it. It’s also fortunate that the people who went for it were CNN,” Rogan said. “They’re so untrustworthy and people know how biased they are and socially weird their anchors are.”
The Spotify host also took a jab at CNN’s unsuccessful CNN+ streaming service, which had its plug pulled just weeks after its launch.
“They spent $300 million dollars, they got 10,000 subscribers,” the former “Fear Factor” host said.
Rogan previously touched on the rumors about whether Spotify would still continue to support him despite the controversy during a February stand-up appearance.
“Spotify has hung in with me, inexplicably,” he said then. “Let’s see what happens.”
The front-running music streaming service hasn’t canceled Rogan, although they removed over 70 episodes from the platform for inflammatory language and added COVID advisories on his episodes.
In an internal company letter released in February addressing the ordeal, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek wrote, “We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed.”
“But canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress,” he continued.
