In a sort of shocking moment at the top of Wednesday’s The View, normally incendiary co-host Joy Behar defended podcaster Joe Rogan’s freedom of speech from calls he be de-platformed from Spotify for “misinformation.” She even went at it with co-host Sunny Hostin, saying if you don’t like what he says, “counter it” with your own speech.
The opening tease pitched the segment as a question to the limits of the right to free speech. “The right to misinform? After rock legend Neil Young threatens to pull his music off Spotify unless they fire their biggest podcast superstar, Joe Rogan for pushing COVID misinformation,” the announcer said. “One of Rogan’s most outspoken detractors, Howard Stern, comes to his defense.”
Adding: “But should free speech that could be deadly still be protected under the First Amendment?”
After co-host Whoopi Goldberg gave a quick overview of the situation at Spotify, she looked to the rest of the table and asked: “Where is Spotify? Is it Spotify's job to pick this up and run with the ball?”
Behar immediately jumped to Rogan’s defense. “No, no. It's not Spotify's job. We have a First Amendment in this country. We have to stick with it. You can't just pick and choose when you want to use the First Amendment,” she forcefully declared.
“Oh, I disagree with that,” Hostin shot back before Behar was finished, kicking off the argument.
Behar proceeded to note that she doesn’t like Rogan but thinks the way to counter him was by using their own speech and not “cancel” him:
BEHAR: I mean, I agree Joe Rogan is a horror, a horror.
GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.
BEHAR: But the way to counter that, bad speech is with more speech. The way to counter it is with boycotts.
GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.
BEHAR: I admire Neil for doing this. Neil Young. He's from the 60s, you know, where musicians took political stands in those days. They didn't just let things go the way they’re doing now. I mean, I don't see too many people taking a stand right now. So, maybe other musicians will follow suit.
“And that will be legitimate. It's not a cancel culture. It's a consequence culture, and the way we handle it is we don't buy Spotify. We ignore Spotify,” she added.
Hostin seemingly found that unacceptable, suggesting Spotify should be “good corporate citizens.” “People always came down on Facebook, and they came down on Twitter and they said they're disseminating all this dangerous information. Don't they have some accountability for it,” she pressed.
She then claimed to Behar's surprise that she wasn’t saying “Joe Rogan should be removed from Spotify,” but felt Spotify should take measures against him like slapping “disclaimers” on his podcasts. And that call for disclaimers soon spread to Fox News as Behar shockingly defended them as well:
BEHAR: So, according to a lot of people, they would remove Fox TV also. You can try to get Fox off your cable vision if you want.
HOSTIN: Well, there should be disclaimers.
BEHAR: Or disclaimers. But you can’t just cancel the show because we have the First Amendment.
This came a couple of weeks after the panel spread their own misinformation about COVID-19.
The general tone questioning the limits of free speech were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Prevagen and Progressive. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
January 26, 2022
11:00:25 a.m. Eastern [Opening tease]ANNOUNCER: The right to misinform? After rock legend Neil Young threatens to pull his music off Spotify unless they fire their biggest podcast superstar, Joe Rogan for pushing COVID misinformation. One of Rogan’s most outspoken detractors, Howard Stern, comes to his defense.
HOWARD STERN: I'm against any kind of censorship really.
ANNOUNCER: But should free speech that could be deadly still be protected under the First Amendment?
(…)
11:03:08 a.m. Eastern
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Where is Spotify? Is it Spotify's job to pick this up and run with the ball?
JOY BEHAR: No, no. It's not Spotify's job. We have a First Amendment in this country. We have to stick with it. You can't just pick and choose when you want to use the First Amendment.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Oh, I disagree with that.
BEHAR: Okay. Well, I'm going to tell you what I mean, what I think.
HOSTIN: Okay.
BEHAR: I mean, I agree Joe Rogan is a horror, a horror.
GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.
BEHAR: But the way to counter that, bad speech is with more speech. The way to counter it is with boycotts.
GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.
BEHAR: I admire Neil for doing this. Neil Young. He's from the 60s, you know, where musicians took political stands in those days. They didn't just let things go the way they’re doing now. I mean, I don't see too many people taking a stand right now. So, maybe other musicians will follow suit.
And that will be legitimate. It's not a cancel culture. It's a consequence culture, and the way we handle it is we don't buy Spotify. We ignore Spotify.
HOSTIN: Yeah, but don't you want good corporate citizens, Joy? I mean, you have, you know, people always came down on Facebook, and they came down on Twitter and they said they're disseminating all this dangerous information. Don't they have some accountability for it? It is their platform, it is their business. And I want a good corporate citizen. I want a citizen that has a policy. I mean, I'm not saying that Joe Rogan should be removed from Spotify. He's got 11 million listeners.
BEHAR: Well then, what you are saying?
HOSTIN: He's got $100 million contract as of 2020. But I do think as the podcast platform, you have to have some sort of guidelines. How about a disclaimer on his podcast?
BEHAR: Okay. That's fine.
HOSTIN: That says, you know, that's misinformation. How about removing some of the podcasts that disseminate that information?
SARA HAINES: They have. They have.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: So, according to a lot of people, they would remove Fox TV also. You can try to get Fox off your cable vision if you want.
HOSTIN: Well, there should be disclaimers.
BEHAR: Or disclaimers. But you can’t just cancel the show because we have the First Amendment.
HOSTIN: I agree with you.
BEHAR: All right.
(…)
