Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of the video platform Rumble on Monday made podcaster Joe Rogan a $100 million offer to bring his shows, even the ones Spotify has removed from its site, over to the rival platform.
"We stand with you, your guests and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation," Pavlovski said in a letter posted to Twitter.
"So we'd like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place. How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years? This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit."
Pavlovski's letter comes after Spotify Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek told the company's staff in a letter that he "strongly" condemns racial slurs and other comments made by Rogan but will not remove him from the platform.
Rogan, however, is already a multimillion-dollar man, after having signed a deal with Spotify in 2019 for more than $100 million to air his show.
The deal, though, comes amid a controversy over COVID-19 misinformation that led to multiple artists removing their music from the platform. Several musicians, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, have pulled their music from Spotify, and the backlash wiped more than $2 billion from the service's market value last week.
Rogan was also criticized for using the N-word in past episodes.
Spotify says it will add a "content advisory" to any of Rogan's episodes that discuss the pandemic.
Rogan has apologized for using racial slurs after a montage video showed him repeatedly using the N-word, and Ek said in the letter it was the podcaster's decision to remove episodes from "The Joe Rogan Experience" library, after discussions with Spotify and his own reflections.
However, Ek said he does not believe silencing Rogan is the answer, but Spotify is committing $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalized groups to elevate creators from diverse backgrounds.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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