India Arie has announced plans to remove her music from Spotify over Joe Rogan’s podcast, following in the footsteps of music legends Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, Hip-Hop DX reports. The report however adds that the R&B singer’s reasons for leaving the streaming service aren’t just related to Covid-19.
Taking to Instagram on Monday (January 31), India Arie revealed she doesn’t agree with Rogan’s “language around race.”
“I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify,” she wrote. “Neil Young opened a door that I must walk through. I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid interviews… for me its also his language around race. What I am talking about is respect – who gets it and who doesn’t.”
While Arie didn’t specify which of Rogan’s race-related comments she found problematic, the podcast host recently came under fire for saying it’s “weird” to call people Black unless they’re “100% African, from the darkest place, where they’re not wearing any clothes all day.”
She also called out Spotify for paying more money to Joe Rogan as a podcast host than they provide to artists.
“Paying musicians a fraction of a penny and HIM $100M?” she added. “This shows the type of company they are and the company that they keep. I’m tired.”
