Yahoo Sports James Blunt jokingly threatens to release new music unless Spotify removes Joe Rogan's podcast
James Blunt is joining the chorus of musicians speaking out against Joe Rogan... with a rather, well, blunt twist.
On Saturday, the "You're Beautiful" singer jokingly threatened to unleash new music on the world unless Spotify removed The Joe Rogan Experience from streaming. Blunt's quippy tweet came after both Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their catalogs from Spotify to protest Rogan's promotion of COVID-19 misinformation on his popular podcast.
Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images James Blunt
"If @spotify doesn't immediately remove @joerogan, I will release new music onto the platform," Blunt wrote on Twitter, adding, "#youwerebeautiful" in reference to his 2005 hit. (Blunt is known for making self-deprecating jokes on Twitter; in the early days of the pandemic, he tweeted, "During lockdown, while many other artists are doing mini-concerts from their homes, I thought I'd do you all a favour and not.")
If @spotify doesn’t immediately remove @joerogan, I will release new music onto the platform. #youwerebeautiful
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) January 29, 2022
Spotify removed Young's catalog from the platform on Wednesday after the musician issued an ultimatum two days before: Take down Rogan's podcast or lose his music.
"I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread," Young wrote in a since-deleted open letter. "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."
Mitchell followed suit late on Friday, writing in a statement, "I've decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue."
Representatives for Spotify have not responded to EW's requests for comment.
On Wednesday, a Spotify spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter, "We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place, and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."
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