Photo: Digital Music NewsMore than 70 episodes of the Joe Rogan podcast were removed from Spotify on Friday evening (February 4th) — which brings the total list of deleted episodes to 113.
The removals were first spotted by JREmissing.com, which tracks all available Joe Rogan episodes on Spotify. The web tool, which specifically tracks which episodes are no longer available to stream on the Spotify app, flagged 71 newly-removed episodes late on Friday (February 4th). JREMissing finds the missing episodes by comparing Spotify’s official API against a list of all JRE episodes released.
It’s unclear why this list of 71 was suddenly deleted. But it’s worth noting that the removals happened late on a Friday, a period that companies frequently choose to deliver bad news or execute changes under the radar. The content of the removed episodes do not appear to focus on COVID-19 issues or vaccinations, which is the topic that spurred Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and others to remove their music from Spotify.
The move closely follows pressure from the Biden Administration to take greater action against Rogan, though it’s unclear if the removals are tied to any government demands. Referring to Spotify’s decision to issue disclaimers ahead of certain podcasts that discuss COVID-19 while pointing listeners to an approved information hub, White House press secretary Jen Psaki pushed for more action. “This disclaimer, it’s a positive step, but we want every platform to be doing more to be calling out mis- and dis-information, while also uplifting accurate information,” Psaki said this week. “Ultimately, our view is that it is a positive step, but there is more that can be done.”
Strangely, Joe Rogan’s most controversial podcasts that sparked Neil Young’s removals are still available.
Specifically, interviews with Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Peter A. McCullough, both released in December of 2021, have not been deleted at the time of this article’s publication. Both interviews sparked the current boycotts and content removals.
One possibility is that the 71 episodes were either removed by accident, or temporarily taken down for some unstated reason. But that seems implausible given the selective nature of the list. Typically, glitches, errors or maintenance windows impact large blocks of content — for example, all episodes uploaded within a given timeframe or an entire podcast catalog — instead of a particular list of just 71 unique episodes.
Update, 2.5.2022: It now appears that the 71 episodes were removed for containing the n-word, either uttered by Rogan or one of his guests, though his has yet to be confirmed.
Spotify reportedly paid $100 million for exclusivity of The Joe Rogan Experience in 2020. During that transition, some episodes of the JRE were flagged for removal. Digital Music News first reported that 42 episodes went missing during the transition and shortly afterwards. Rogan himself said Spotify didn’t want those episodes on its platform and he agreed to those demands as part of the broader deal.
This new batch of episode removals hasn’t been addressed by either Spotify or Joe Rogan.
That could change given that the takedown just happened.
In total, there are over 1,700 numbered episodes of the Joe Rogan podcast. But given the large number of listeners and attention being paid to The Joe Rogan Experience, it’s difficult to remove even a small number of episodes without someone noticing.
Taking a look at the removed episodes, several names appear more than once. Ari Shaffir, Brian Redban, Tom Segura, and Bert Kreischer were all repeat guests. One has to wonder if these takedowns were requested by the guests themselves? Who knows, but 71 more episodes from Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast collection have now been removed.
Here’s the full list of The Joe Rogan Experience episodes that are now removed, which adds to the original 42 that went missing back in 2020.
Joe Rogan Podcast Episodes Removed from Spotify – February 2022
#1218 – Gad Saad
#2016 – Mike Ward & Pantelis
#1197 – Michael Malice
#1187 – Kyle Kulinski
#1141 – Theo Von
#1103 – Tom Segura
#1036 – Ari Shaffir, Bert Kreischer & Tom Segura
#963 – Michael Malice
#925 – Theo Von
#912 – Pete Holmes
#810 – Big Jay Oakerson
#746 – TJ Kirk
#742 – Aubrey Marcus
#674 – Brian Redban
#664 – Tom Segura & Christina Pazsitsky
#594 – Russell Peters
#570 – Ryan Parsons
#537 – Rich Vos
#525 – Bert Kreischer
#512 – Dan Savage
#506 – Moshe Kasher
#488 – Iliza Shlesinger
#443 – Neal Brennan
#375 – Shane Smith
#374 – Marc Maron
#358 – Bert Kreischer
#354 – Ari Shaffir, Amy Schumer
#349 – Greg Fitzsimmons
#344 – Stanley Krippner, Christopher Ryan
#340 – JD Kelley
#324 – Sam Sheridan
#320 – Tim Ferriss
#314 – Ian Edwards
#294 – Ari Shaffir
#246 – Maynard J. Keenan Part 1 & 2
#232 – Giorgio Tsoukalos
#227 – Ari Shaffir
#198 – Brody Stevens
#176 – Steven Rinella
#159 – Nick Thune
#155 – Dave Attell
#152 – Brian Redban
#134 – Kevin Smith
#132 – Bert Kreischer
#122 – Jamie Kilstein
#118 – Ari Shaffir
#116 – Russell Peters, Junior Simpson
#114 – Neal Brennan
#113 – Brian Posehn
#112 – Cliffy B, Johnny Cristo
#110 – Duncan Trussell
#107 – Doug Benson
#102 – John Heffron
#92 – Jim Norton
#91 – Bill Burr
#88 – Andy Dick
#82 – Dave Foley
#75 – Sam Triopoli
#72 – Ari Shaffir
#66 – Nick Swardson
#55 – Duncan Trussell
#50 – Little Esther
#48 – Brian Redban
#42 – Duncan Trussell
#40 – Tyler Knight
#27 – Sam Tripoli
#21 – Brian Redban
#20 – Tom Segura
#4 – Brian Redban
Also removed: Fight Companion – February 19, 2017
