BLABBERMOUTH.NET
Ted Nugent has once again blasted
Neil Young for pulling his music from
Spotify in protest of
Joe Rogan.
Young demanded that his catalog be removed from
Spotify in response to "fake information about vaccines" being "spread" on the platform via
Rogan's podcast,
"The Joe Rogan Experience".
Young delivered an ultimatum, adding, "They can have
Rogan or
Young. Not both."
Spotify announced a few days later that it would pull
Young's music catalog from its platform.
Nugent weighed in on
Young's position during yesterday's (Friday, February 11) "Friday Free For All" edition of
"The Nightly Nuge", a news-style clip in which
Ted offers his take on the news of our world every night "in a concise, fiery fashion that [is] totally
Ted." He said (as transcribed by
BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well,
Neil Young, God bless him. I'm sure that there's many people that appreciate
Neil Young's creativity and his talents and his creation of wonderful music for those people who love that kind of music. I'm not a big fan. I happen to know that he's got a lot of soul… But now that I've praised him for all the positives, the guy is a complete punk.
"If you've done that much mind-altering chemicals throughout your life, then you can proudly claim in one moment that you should be rocking in the free world but then in the next moment witness
all the evidence supporting everything that
Joe Rogan's been saying, that I've been saying, the truth, logic and common sense, the
indisputable evidence to support it, and then claim that
we're guilty of misinformation when actually the stoner birdbrain punk,
he delivers misinformation," he continued.
"So this is a funny moment because he made an ultimatum to
Spotify — whatever that big tech is — and he said, 'If you don't take
Joe Rogan off
Spotify, then you have to take my music off
Spotify.' That's a pretty decision,
Neil. Thanks for making it so simple, because
Neil Young on
Spotify —
adios, mofo. Now
Joni Mitchell's doing the same thing, and, again, God bless her. I can't stand folk music, but I know there are a lot of people that love that kind of stuff and I salute them and thank them. And I appreciate any music that makes people happy and fortifies their American Dream, or whatever dream they might have. Is there another dream? I don't think so. The Mexican Dream is to get the hell out and go to America."
Ted went on to claim that
Young and
Mitchell "are saying things that are just stupid. And again, with all due respect… I'm sure
Joni… I've seen
Joni Mitchell do interviews; she's a smart gal, and her musical dreams she literally has perfected. And on behalf of those people that love that kind of music, I can only salute them and celebrate the happiness that
Joni Mitchell and
Neil Young's music brought them."
In the days after
Neil had his music from
Spotify removed, a handful of notable artists have pulled their music from the streaming giant, blaming the platform for spreading false information about coronavirus via
Rogan's podcast.
Neil's wife and acclaimed actress
Daryl Hannah took to
Twitter to express criticism for
Rogan's podcast and the eventual choice
Spotify has made regarding
Neil's ultimatum.
Daryl wrote: "sad to see some confuse censorship & free speech with the choice a private company has in deciding what they profit from a podcaster is free to say whatever they want Just as
Neil is free to NOT have his music on a platform that makes $$$ of disinformation that harms folks".
In response,
Rogan promised to "do my best, in the future, to balance things out," while
Spotify said it would add content advisories to podcast episodes with information about COVID-19. In an almost 10-minute-long
Instagram video,
Rogan said he would "try harder to get people with differing opinions on" on his show, which averages 11 million listeners per episode.
"The Joe Rogan Experience" became a
Spotify exclusive in 2020, when
Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming giant.
Spotify's company's chief executive
Daniel 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."
Spotify Stands Firm Against Neil Young’s Call For Censorship Against Joe Rogan
Ted Nugent has been “banned” and “censored” more than almost any artist so you might be surprised to hear the good things he has to say about Neil Young and Joni Mitchell after they tried to get Joe Rogan’s podcast “cancelled”. Of course, he also has some scorching takes on their outlandish stand that goes against everything America stands for.
Posted by The Nightly Nuge on Tuesday, February 8, 2022