Spotify CEO Daniel Ek released a statement announcing that the company would stand by Joe Rogan

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told staff members that the company will stand by podcast host Joe Rogan following an ‘n-word’ controversy and announced $100 million investment towards content from ‘historically marginalized groups.’

On Sunday Ek wrote a memo to staff condemning Rogan’s past comments and confirmed the removal of 113 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast from its platform after Rogan issued an apology for having used racial slurs on his platform in the past. 

But Ek held firm that ‘silencing’ Rogan was not the answer.  

‘While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,’ Ek said in the memo. ‘We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.’

Rogan returned to his podcast this week and mentioned the controversy he has sparked before interviewing Andy Stumpf, a retired Navy SEAL and record-setting wingsuit pilot

On Saturday, Rogan was forced to respond to a compilation of resurfaced clips from his podcast – which was hosted on YouTube at the time and not Spotify – in which he used the N-word more than 20 times.

In total, Rogan utters the word 24 times in 23 separate clips, which were recorded before the host left his longtime platform on YouTube for his exclusive deal with Spotify in 2020.

Rogan admitted on Saturday that ‘it looks f***ing horrible. Even to me.’

Rogan added that the slurs were the ‘most regretful and shameful thing’ he has ever had to address and that he hasn´t used the N-word in years.

Rogan, 54, has been under fire in recent weeks from progressives and others in favor of canceling the JRE host’s $100 million deal with the world’s most popular streaming service for what’s been called misinformation regarding the Covid-19 vaccine. 

On Saturday, Rogan was forced to respond to a compilation of resurfaced clips from his podcast which he used the N-word over 20 times

Ek added that he believes in elevating creators from underrepresented communities and will invest $100 million towards ‘the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups.’ 

‘This will dramatically increase our efforts in these areas. While some might want us to pursue a different path, I believe that more speech on more issues can be highly effective in improving the status quo and enhancing the conversation altogether.’

Ek also apologized to his employees for the controversy the company has been embroiled in lately. 

‘I deeply regret that you are carrying so much of this burden. I also want to be transparent in setting the expectation that in order to achieve our goal of becoming the global audio platform, these kinds of disputes will be inevitable,’ he said. ‘For me, I come back to centering on our mission of unlocking the potential of human creativity and enabling more than a billion people to enjoy the work of what we think will be more than 50 million creators. That mission makes these clashes worth the effort.’

The statement came after Ek stood up for Rogan last week before the racial slurs resurfaced, saying “it is important to me that we don´t take on the position of being content censor.”

Ek told The Wall Street Journal last week that he took responsibility for being “too slow to respond” to the criticism over vaccine misinformation. It took the company five days to respond publicly to Young.

“It´s become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely accepted information from the medical and scientific communities guiding us through this unprecedented time,” Ek continued in a statement.