London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Jon Stewart weighs into Spotify controversy, says artists pulling music over Joe Rogan are making a 'mistake'

Jon Stewart weighs into Spotify controversy, says artists pulling music over Joe Rogan are making a 'mistake'

Musicians Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and more have requested the streaming platform remove their music

Jon Stewart believes the musicians boycotting Spotify over Joe Rogan are overreacting.

The former "Daily Show" host shared his hot take on musicians Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and more who have requested their music be removed from the streaming platform on a recent episode of his podcast "The Problem with Jon Stewart."

"First of all, I love Neil Young and I love Neil Young's music but the idea that it was worth $4 billion in value to Spotify caught me off guard," Stewart said. "When he pulled his music off of Spotify and Spotify went that I was like, hm, that didn't seem right."

Stewart said he doesn't think Joe Rogan is an "ideologue in any way."

A handful of musicians have requested their music be removed from Spotify because of their opposition to the coronavirus-related content published via Joe Rogan's podcast, which is exclusive to the streamer.


His advice to artists is: "Don't leave, don't abandon, don't censor, engage."

"We all exist in this world and on this planet. There's no question that there is egregious misinformation that's purposeful and hateful…and that being moderated is a credit to the platforms that run them," Stewart said. "But this overreaction to Rogan, I think, is a mistake."

He went on to call the musicians' reactions to Rogan's comments about the coronavirus "overblown."

"I think there are dishonest bad actors in the world and identifying those is so much more important to me," he added.

Spotify agreed to remove Neil Young's music from the platform.


David Crosby and Stephen Stills are the latest artists who have joined their Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates and asked that the platform remove their music.

"We support Neil [Young] and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify's Joe Rogan podcast," Crosby, 80; Stills, 77; and Graham Nash, 80, said in a joint statement shared on Twitter on Wednesday.

Nash had already removed his music from Spotify.

Joni Mitchell attends The 2020 NAMM Show – 35th Annual NAMM TEC Awards on January 18, 2020 in Anaheim, California. 


"While we always value alternative points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences," the rockers continued. "Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don't want our music – or the music we made together – to be on the same platform."

Young was the first artist to pull his content from the streamer over the information in Rogan's podcast.

Other artists to have pulled their music from Spotify in protest of Rogan's content include Joni Mitchell, India.Arie and Nils Lofgren.

Rogan broke his silence on the controversy on Sunday in a nearly 10-minute-long video. He spoke about the challenges of preparing for his shows that are unscripted and free-flowing. He defended his interviews with Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist, and Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist, that resulted in some criticism and apparently led to Young's decision to call on his songs being removed from the platform.

He challenged the word "misinformation" given that so much is still being learned about COVID-19. He said Spotify will begin to put a disclaimer at the beginning of these sorts of interviews, and he will also consider following them up with an expert with a different opinion.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×