Mary Trump, the out lesbian niece of Donald Trump who is one of her uncle’s biggest critics, is removing her podcast from Spotify due to the company’s refusal to remove Joe Rogan’s podcast from the platform for spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
“I’m removing my podcast from Spotify,” Trump tweeted. “I know it’s not a big deal but hope it will be part of a growing avalanche.”
Related: Mary Trump sums up Donald after he sues her: “He’s a f–king loser.”
She then thanked Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Nils Lofgren – three musicians who have already pulled their catalogues from Spotify for similar reasons – “for your courage in leading the way.”
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I'm removing my podcast from @Spotify. I know it's not a big deal but hope it will be part of a growing avalanche. Thank you to #NeilYoung, @jonimitchell, and @nilslofgren for your courage in leading the way.
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) February 2, 2022
The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast on Spotify and the Swedish app reportedly pays $100 million to license it. The show involves politics, comedy, and current events and has a conservative tilt.
Rogan has been vocal since last year about his belief that young people should not get vaccinated, saying that if someone is healthy and is “exercising all the time,” then they “don’t need to worry” about the virus.
Rogan got the virus in September and publicly shared his regimen, which included the parasitic infection drug ivermectin, and he got mad at CNN for calling the medication – which does not help with COVID – “horse dewormer.”
Last month, 270 scientists and healthcare workers signed an open letter to Spotify about his “false and societally harmful assertions” about the pandemic, which included saying that “societal leaders have ‘hypnotized’ the public” and having physician and anti-vaxxer Robert Malone on his show.
Malone compared pandemic measures to the Holocaust and has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation, but he’s a hero to anti-vaxxers.
Musician Neil Young posted an open letter online saying he would remove his music from Spotify if The Joe Rogan Experience wasn’t removed.
“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform,” Young wrote, saying that Spotify “can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” Spotify chose Rogan and removed Young’s music.
The controversy hasn’t gone away, and others have joined Young in leaving Spotify. Joni Mitchell removed her music, noting that both she and Young are polio survivors. India Arie said “Neil Young opened a door that I must walk through” as she pulled her music as well, citing Rogan’s comments on race.
Rogan also has a long history of anti-LGBTQ statements, including repeatedly using the word “faggot,” suggesting that people turn gay because they were molested as children, and calling trans rights activists “rabid.”
Mary Trump, unlike her uncle or cousins, is politically progressive. She uses her background as a psychologist and a member of the Trump family to criticize the Trumps.
“If he thinks he’s going down, he’s going to try to take the rest of us down with him,” Mary Trump said in an interview on November 6, 2020, just as her uncle began spreading the lie that he actually won the election instead of President Joe Biden.
Her warning also came two months before the Capitol insurrection, which several rioters have said they felt was sanctioned by Donald Trump.
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