#Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Speak Out About Spotify’s COVID-19 Misinformation Controversy

If you haven’t heard, Spotify has caught heat recently for continuously allowing COVID-19 misinformation to be spread on their platform — especially from Joe Rogan‘s podcast. Since the start of the pandemic, the 54-year-old host has made a ton of false claims about the coronavirus vaccine and invited anti-vaxx guests, who also spew harmful theories. Last week, Neil Young pulled his entire music catalog from the streaming platform and was followed by musician Joni Mitchell on Saturday due to the misinformation scandal. Now, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joining in on the conversation…

Related: What?! Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Had A Secret Meeting With Tom Holland And Zendaya!

According to People, the couple shared through an Archewell spokesperson on Sunday that they have told Spotify about their “concerns” over the inaccuracies about the virus on the platform and asked for them to address the “serious harms” of misinformation. The statement reads:

“Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day. Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

Wow!

In their message, Meghan and Harry did not explicitly mention Rogan’s show, The Joe Rogan Experience. As Page Six reports, it was announced last April that the duo was joining President Joe Biden at Vax Live, a concert in El Lay meant to encourage global vaccination efforts. But on the same day, the podcast host claimed young, healthy people do not need to get the vaccine – even though ACTUAL medical experts say otherwise and that everyone who can get vaccinated should do so. According to Page Six, the royals were (understandably) not too thrilled when that happened.

As you know, Meghan and Harry, announced their partnership with the streaming service back in December 2020, promising at the time to host and produce original content “all with the goal to build community through shared experience, narratives and values.” However, they have only released a short holiday special with their celeb friends, so far. This ultimately caused some friction between the pair and Spotify as of late, with The Sun reporting that the company has started hiring producers to create some sort of content for them. We can imagine this recent controversy most likely hasn’t helped the tension.

Do you think Meghan and Harry will end their deal with Spotify if they don’t address this matter? Let us know your thoughts on the twosome stepping into the conversation (below)!

[Image via Spotify, WENN/Avalon]