Comic withdraws his material in protest at Joe Rogan's Covid disinformation

Stewart Lee has followed Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in withdrawing his work from Spotify in protest at the Covid disinformation being spread on the platform.

The comic joins a growing band of artists distancing themselves from the streaming giant over its support of Joe Rogan, who has used his Spotify podcast to give airtime to antivaxxers.

Lee said: ‘I am fully aware this will make no financial difference to Spotify whatsoever, but for too long internet platforms have been able to spread lies with impunity, free from the checks and balances that govern traditional publishers and broadcasters, and their efforts to correct this still do not go for enough.

‘Perhaps artists big and small can band together to do something to change this where the money men won’t.’

Young was the first major artist to go public with his dissatisfaction, followed by Mitchell. They have since been joined by fellow musicians including guitarist Nis Lofgren, singer-songwriter Indie Arie and Young’s bandmate Graham Nash.

Even the White House has got involved with the row, with Joe Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki calling on Spotify to do more in the fight against Covid-19 misinformation.

She said yesterday that it was the responsibility of all media companies to ‘be responsible and be vigilant to ensure the American people have accurate information about something as significant as Covid-19. That certainly includes Spotify.’

Spotify paid a reported $100million (£75million) in 2020 for rights to The Joe Rogan Experience, which is downloaded almost 200 million times a month. The comic has said the vaccine is a ‘gene therapy’ – although it does not interact with your body’s DNA – and has welcomed vaccine sceptics onto his show.

Lee – who is currently on tour  with his Snowflake/Tornado show -  said he was a fan of Young’s, and has seen him live six times.

He added: ‘The misinformation mongers Spotify are intrinsically at odds with the core values of the Stewart Lee brand.’

Spotify hosted Lee’s stand-up albums 41s Best Stand Up Ever, If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One and Carpet Remnant World.

But his decision is unlikely to cost him too much money as the platform is notoriously ungenerous with its royalty payments, giving artists a fraction of a penny each time a track is streamed.

Lee’s material will remain available as downloads and in digital form from Media Garage Productions.

• Lee has also today been announced as one of the performers at this year's Bluedot festival, held at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire on July 21 to 24. He will be bringing his acclaimed music documentary King Rocker  to the event. Other comics performing include Adam Buxton with his show Bug, plus stand-up from Desiree Burch, Olga Koch,  Lolly Adefope,  Robin Ince, Rob Rouse and Ahir Shah. Musical headliners are the Halle Orchestra,  Björk,  Mogwai and Groove Armada. Tickets

Published: 2 Feb 2022