POISON's RIKKI ROCKETT Sides With NEIL YOUNG Over JOE ROGAN In COVID 'Misinformation' Fight

POISON drummer Rikki Rockett has sided with Neil Young after the legendary singer demanded that his catalog be removed from Spotify in response to "fake information about vaccines" being "spread" on the platform via Joe 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.

"We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon," the company said in a statement. "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."

A short time later, DISTURBED singer David 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".

Seemingly in response to Draiman's comments, 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". This prompted Draiman to write: "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."

Another musician that weighed in is Rockett, who shared Bach's tweet and wrote: "Joe is a very intelligent man, but he is wrong on this one. Gotta side with the artist. We don't get what we deserve from Spotify anyway!"

When Sebastian responded, "Hard to say how intelligent a guy is who has a podcast that willingly disseminates deadly misinformation to its own listeners. Maybe if Meatloaf didn't buy into this conspiracy he would still be with us today. Along with 4,000+ other people that died yesterday from this garbage", Rockett countered with: "It's not about intelligence, it’s about integrity."

In response to Draiman's tweet, Rockett wrote "Science is not opinion. Neither is math", to which David replied: "Love and respect you too Rikki, and agree with you. Yet, both science and even math theorems continue to evolve, and sometimes calculations are corrected and can change. What will not change for me is the high opinion I hold for each of you". Rockett then responded: "This hasn't evolved. 2+2 will still be 4.", after which Draiman wrote: "On that…we agree lol".

Last July, Rockett revealed that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus after being vaccinated. The 60-year-old drummer, who is a cancer survivor, later said that that his recovery from COVID-19 "would be way worse" if he hadn't been vaccinated, "especially if it was the delta variant."

Rockett, whose real name is Richard Allan Ream, was diagnosed with oral cancer nearly seven years ago. Today Rikki is cancer-free, enjoys playing with his band, POISON, caring for his two children, and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

"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."