Joe Rogan has spoken out about the current controversy surrounding his podcast on Spotify.
Over the weekend, legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell became the latest big name in the industry to request to have her music catalog removed from Spotify, following in Neil Young's footsteps.
As reported by ABC News, Spotify granted Young's request last week after the 76-year-old 'Heart of Gold' singer reportedly told the streaming giants: "They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both."
Rogan, 54, came under fire recently over his discussions regarding the ongoing pandemic on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, which is hosted exclusively by Spotify - particularly those featuring interviews with Dr. Robert Malone (#1757) and Dr. Peter McCullough (#1747).
Speaking in a near-10-minute Instagram video, Rogan has clarified the intentions behind his podcast and discussed the controversy surrounding him.
Referring to the two doctors, Rogan said: "Both these people are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people, and they have an opinion that's different from the mainstream narrative - I wanted to hear what their opinion is."
The podcast host then spoke about his issues with the respective episodes being labeled as containing "dangerous misinformation".
"The problem I have with the term 'misinformation', especially today, is that many of the things that we thought was misinformation, even a short while ago, are now accepted as fact," Rogan added.
Once again speaking about the two guests in question, Rogan said: "I do not know if they are right, I don't know, because I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist. I'm just a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them."
He then added: "Do I get things wrong? Absolutely, I get things wrong, but I try to correct them.
"Whenever I get something wrong, I try to correct it, because I'm interested in telling the truth - I'm interested in finding out what the truth is. And I'm interested in having interesting conversations with people that have differing opinions. I'm not interested in only talking to people who have one perspective."
And commenting about Young and Mitchell requesting to have their music removed from Spotify, Rogan said: "I'm very sorry that they feel that way, I most certainly don't want that - I'm a Neil Young fan."
Rogan then said that he supports Spotify wanting to add a disclaimer to controversial episodes of his podcast.
He then added that one thing he could "do better" is to "have more experts [on his show] with differing opinions" right after his more controversial episodes.
"I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I'm very sorry that this is happening to them and that they're taking so much heat from it," Rogan added.
Following Neil Young's open letter to Spotify, 78-year-old Mitchell released a statement, titled "I Stand With Neil Young!"
"I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify," she wrote, adding: "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."
Unlike Young, the 'Both Sides Now' singer did not specifically name Rogan in her request, but did include a link to an open letter signed by a group of scientists and medical professionals, which criticized Spotify for continuing to host Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.