Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Joe Rogan receives $100mn offer amid Spotify row

Joe Rogan receives $100mn offer amid Spotify row

Rumble CEO says he’s made a “totally legit” offer to Rogan to ditch Spotify amid censorship pressure
Joe Rogan has been offered a $100 million deal to leave Spotify and take his podcast to Rumble, including all deleted episodes, the platform’s CEO Chris Pavlovski has announced.

“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 wrote in a letter to Rogan he made public on Monday.

The offer came after the 54-year-old comedian and podcast host apologized for “racially insensitive language” used on some episodes of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’. More than 100 episodes have been taken down from Spotify’s archives, with CEO Daniel Ek claiming in a memo on Sunday that Rogan himself decided to remove 70 of them.

Ek’s internal memo, which was leaked to the public, showed the CEO seemingly attempting to walk the tightrope between wanting to keep Rogan on the platform and the mounting pressure – both internal and external – to censor him.

“I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek wrote, adding that while Spotify should obviously crack down on “harmful” content, “canceling voices is a slippery slope.”

The $100 million figure matches the amount Spotify paid in 2020 to license Rogan’s full catalog of episodes and become his podcast's exclusive home.

Rogan was previously accused of spreading “misinformation” about the Covid-19 vaccines, after interviewing several scientists skeptical of the jabs – including mRNA developer Dr. Robert Malone. A number of other artists, from Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to ex-royals Harry Windsor and his wife Meghan, also threatened to pull their content from Spotify if it didn’t muzzle Rogan.

Last week, the White House applauded Spotify putting a misinformation disclaimer on some of Rogan’s shows as “a good step,” adding “there’s more that can be done.” After that, a Democrat media outlet called MeidasTouch spread a compilation of clips in which Rogan says a racial slur. The video has prompted accusations of racism, even though Rogan insists he is not racist and was quoting someone else. It went viral over the weekend, prompting Rogan’s apology.

Meanwhile, Pavlovski has been retweeting calls for Rogan to move over to Rumble, a free-speech platform originally set up to compete with Google’s YouTube.

The Florida-based platform has significantly expanded its reach and revenue since acquiring Locals last October, in a move Pavlovski said was “building the rails to a new tech ecosystem that will free everyone from the restraints of editorial control.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×