BLABBERMOUTH.NET
Sebastian Bach has thrown shade at
DISTURBED singer
David Draiman for praising
Spotify's announcement that it would remove
Neil Young's music two days after
Young demanded that his catalog be taken off in response to "fake information about vaccines" being "spread" on the platform via
Joe Rogan's podcast,
"The Joe Rogan Experience".
In a now-deleted post on his web site,
Young said the music and podcast platform is "spreading fake information about vaccines â potentially causing death to those who believe this disinformation spread by them." "I want you to let
Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform," he wrote, according to
Rolling Stone. "They can have
Rogan or
Young. Not both."
On Wednesday (January 26), a
Spotify spokesperson confirmed that
Young's music was being removed from the platform, saying: "We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to
Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. We regret
Neil's decision to remove his music from
Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."
A short time later,
Draiman weighed in on
Spotify's move, tagging the company's chief executive
Daniel Ek on
Twitter and writing: "@eldsjal I applaud you and @Spotify for making the RIGHT call, preserving #FreeSpeech and not capitulating to the mob. I may not agree with everything @joerogan or his guests say, but they're entitled to have the forum to say it."
David later clarified his stance, writing: "Let me be clear. I do not support ANY artist blackmailing any entity to follow an agenda THEY believe in, wether it's @Neilyoung one one side of the spectrum or @EricClapton on the other. Music shouldn't be used to sow division. It should be used to bring people together IMHO".
Earlier today,
Bach took to his
Twitter to write: "Imagine calling yourself a rocker yet siding with some dude who has a podcast over @Neilyoung You can stick to listening to your podcast and I will stick to listening to
Neil Young".
In response,
Draiman wrote: "I still love and will listen to @Neilyoung too brother, the same way I still love and will listen to you. Always continue to respect and admire the both of you brother. The only 'side' I'm on is the side of freedom, and you're free to have your opinion, of course."
Sebastian previously chimed in on
Neil's request in a tweet earlier in the week. He wrote at the time: "Misinformation about the vaccines is everybody's problem.
Neil Young is doing this because he wants rock and roll to exist and his fans to live. This other guy is a complete jackass who doesn't give a shit about anybody or anything except himself".
Back in 2016,
Draiman revealed that he introduced
Bach to his now-wife, model
Suzanne Le, and he attended their August 2015 wedding in San Jose, California. "We are good friends,"
David told the San Francisco radio station
107.7 The Bone at the time. "She's a longtime friend of my wife [Japanese-American model, actress and wrestler
Lena Yada]. [His wife and my wife] used to do Hawaiian Tropic pageants together back in the day, so that's where they met originally. And when
Baz fell out of his last relationship, [
Suzanne] had always mentioned to me how much she had a thing for him. So I'm, like, 'Okay, I've got a girl for you, but she's a good girl.' It took some prepping. But he's been amazing. He's a great source of inspiration. He's a ridiculously talented guy, and certainly a good friend."
Bach proposed to
Le on December 28, 2014, which also happened to be
Suzanne's 42nd birthday.
The singer in 2014 broke off his engagement to model
Minnie Gupta, who appeared on the cover of his
"Kicking & Screaming" album and in videos for the singles
"Kicking & Screaming" and
"I'm Alive".
Sebastian was previously married for 18 years to
Maria Bierk, with whom he had been coupled since before joining his former band. They split up in April 2010.
Bach and
Maria Bierk have three children: sons
Paris and
London and daughter
Sebastiana.
"The Joe Rogan Experience" became a
Spotify exclusive in 2020, when
Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming giant.
Ek has defended
Rogan in the past, including after an episode that featured the conspiracy theorist
Alex Jones in 2020.
"We want creators to create,"
Ek told
The Financial Times at the time. "It's what they do best. We're not looking to play a role in what they should say."
