Joe Rogan, with his staggeringly huge audience, is probably a gold mine for Spotify.  Neil Young's challenge to him was always stupid.  But when Spotify agreed to put misinformation labels on Rogan's work, Rogan didn't tell them to jump in a lake.  He agreed.

I can't listen to Rogan.  I find him irritating.  However, I have followed his trajectory.  I noticed when he inked a $100-million deal with Spotify.  It was a good deal for Spotify because Rogan's audience share leaves all other news media in the dust.

I was impressed when Rogan had Dr. Robert Malone and Peter McCullough on his show, both of whom have called out the government's and media's vaccine narrative — and rightly so: leftists claimed that COVID couldn't possibly have been a man-made virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.  Not only was that misinformation, but we now know that Fauci and the feds lied about it from the start.

• Leftists claimed that the lockdown would slow the spread.  That was misinformation.
• Leftists insisted on a six-foot distance rule.  That was misinformation.
• Leftists claimed that cloth masks provided protection from COVID.  That was misinformation.
• Leftists insist that children must be masked.  This is a continuing lie that is destroying children.
• Leftists claimed the vaccine would protect people from catching or spreading COVID.  That was misinformation.
• Leftists claim that more shots make people safer.  Israel's experience shows that this is completely wrong.
• Leftists insisted that ivermectin is deadly and doesn't stop COVID.  That was misinformation.  This stance probably has killed several hundred thousand Americans.
• Leftists insisted that a hydroxychloroquine cocktail (with zinc and an antibiotic, among other things) wouldn't stop COVID.  That was misinformation and that's been known for 18 months now.
• Leftists insist that children must be vaccinated.  That is misinformation and exposes children to a dangerous risk.

I could go on, but I think you get the point: if there's misinformation out there, it's on the left, from Fauci on down.  This means that Malone and McCullough were sharing information, not misinformation.  They struck a blow against a narrative that ensures that the American economy falters, the middle class is destroyed, community connections are broken, kids are broken, and our society is so destroyed that the only hope for saving it would be a vast government program that breaks our constitutional free-market system once and for all.

Image: Joe Rogan.  YouTube screen grab.

A few raddled old hippies (Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and some guy named Nils Lof...something or other), along with two more grifters (Harry and Meghan), insisted that Rogan had to go.

Spotify refused to kick Rogan off, but it gets no moral points for that.  Rogan's a cash cow, and the old hippies aren't.  As for the grifters, Spotify is probably already regretting its $25-million deal with them because it recently said it would take over handling their content.

Nevertheless, Spotify has promised to counter "misinformation" by flagging Rogan's shows about COVID and the vaccines with a disclaimer and links to counter "misinformation."  In other words, it's copying Facebook and YouTube.

Rogan could have taken a stand and said if you put any label and counter-links on my content, I'm out of here.  They need him, not vice versa, and a good lawyer can break any contract.  But Rogan, instead, even while acknowledging that most of the mainstream narratives have been wrong, has proven to be craven:

Rogan responded to the fallout on Sunday, saying in a video on Instagram that he was only seeking to have conversations on his podcast with people who have "differing opinions."

"I'm not trying to promote misinformation, I'm not trying to be controversial," Rogan said. "I've never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people."

He also said that he schedules the guests on his podcast himself, and that he would try to book doctors with different opinions right after he talks to "the controversial ones." Rogan noted that he earlier sat down on the show with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the chief medical correspondent for CNN, Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is a member of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, and Dr. Peter Hotez from Baylor College of Medicine.

Rogan additionally welcomed the idea of adding advisories before podcasts related to COVID-19.

Here's his whole climb-down video:

The great thing about the last two years is that they've been clarifying.  We've seen who hates America, who's a mindless follower, who's a racist, who's a fool, etc.  The masks are off.