Reality-TV-host-turned-podcaster Joe Rogan is on yet another apology tour.
Days after artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music off Spotify due prevalent COVID-19 misinformation on the platform, Rogan has apologized for the controversy his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” has created.
He posted a video on his Instagram on Sunday wherein he addressed the criticism that his show has spread COVID misinformation. While he was quick to offer a full apology to Spotify, he stopped short of a complete mea culpa to Young and Mitchell, nevermind the public to whom he’s been spreading extremely dubious fear about vaccines.
“I’m very sorry that they feel that way,” Rogan said on the video. “I most certainly don’t want that.”
“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,” he added.
He went on to say that he was a big fan of the two artists and had “no hard feelings” towards them.
Rogan also offered a long-winded justification of his and his guests’ stances and bad takes on the subject of COVID, attempting to justify the claims of misinformation against his show.
Of course, apology without action means nothing. So what exactly will he do differently in the future — if anything?
While he didn’t make any concrete promises, Rogan did say he would do more research before he jumps into his interviews. He also said that he would be open to having a larger variety of experts on his show.
“I think if there’s anything that I’ve done that I could do better is have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones,” Rogan said.
The apology comes as Spotify and Rogan grapple with a tsunami of criticism spurred in part due to an episode of the podcast that featured noted conspiracy theorist and moron Dr. Robert Malone, who claims that people are wearing masks because of “mass formation psychosis.”
In response, hundreds of medical experts penned an open letter calling on the music streaming service to moderate misinformation — and specifically calling out Rogan.
We’ll see if this latest apology from Rogan actually means anything. As long as he keeps having conspiracy theorists and bad actors on his show, though, his latest video will be as empty as his used steroid syringes.