Fact check: Claim that Joe Rogan lost Spotify deal originated as satire

McKenzie Sadeghi, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Joe Rogan lost his Spotify deal due to ivermectin

Podcast host Joe Rogan recently attracted criticism when he announced he was taking the anti-parasitic medicine ivermectin after testing positive for COVID-19.

Now, some people are claiming Rogan lost his Spotify deal, reported to be worth $100 million, because he publicly endorsed the controversial drug.

"Joe Rogan Loses Spotify Deal and Millions Due to Ivermectin," reads a Sept. 28 Facebook post from the page Patheos that accumulated more than 300 reactions within a couple of days.

Similar versions of the claim have been shared to Facebook, Reddit, YouTube and Twitter.

But Rogan is still under contract with Spotify. The claim that he lost his deal originated as satire, but it was presented on social media as fact.

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The social media users did not return requests for comment.

Claim originated as satire

The claim that Rogan lost his Spotify deal first appeared in a Sept. 3 satirical article from the blog page Laughing in Disbelief.

The author of the blog, Andrew Hall, writes that Laughing in Disbelief is "similar to the Onion," a satirical website.

"I hope I'm providing laughs for people who are left of center," Hall wrote on the page's about section. "I also think atheists, Satanists, agnostics, Brights, and antitheists will have a chuckle!"

But the claims shared to social media did not include a disclaimer, leading people to believe it was a real report.

It's an example of "stolen satire," in which something published and labeled as satire is captured via screenshot and reposted in a way that makes it appear to be legitimate news. As a result, viewers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.

As pointed out by Hall, Andrew Canard, defined in the story as Spotify's "chief executive," is not a real person. Spotify's chief executive officer is Daniel Ek. Hall says he uses the surname Canard in his articles because it means a false rumor or report.

As of Sept. 30, Rogan's page is still up and running on the music streaming platform.

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Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Rogan lost his Spotify deal due to ivermectin. The claim was originally posted on a satirical blog, but users shared it without mentioning that the article was a joke. Rogan's page is still active on Spotify, and there is no evidence he lost his contract.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Joe Rogan did not lose Spotify deal due to ivermectin