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Louis Farrakhan Podcast, Speeches Can Be Found on Spotify

As of this writing, the Journal can confirm that a total of eight episodes of “Farrakhan Speaks” can be streamed on Spotify, featuring excerpts from various Farrakhan speeches.
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February 11, 2022
Kevork Djansezian / Stringer (Getty Images)

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s podcast as well as some his past lectures can be found on Spotify’s streaming platform.

Fox News reporter Timothy Nerozzi first reported on the matter in a February 9 Fox Business article, stating that while there have been calls for podcaster Joe Rogan to be deplatformed from Spotify, “artists accused of everything from sex trafficking to antisemitism continue to be hosted on the platform without incident.” One of the examples Nerozzi listed was Farrakhan’s podcast “Farrakhan Speaks” still being available for streaming, as well as Farrakhan’s classical violin pieces. As of this writing, the Journal can confirm that both are indeed available for streaming on Spotify; a total of eight episodes of “Farrakhan Speaks” can be streamed on Spotify, featuring excerpts from various Farrakhan speeches.

Additionally, the Journal found various archived speeches from Farrakhan on Spotify as well. For instance, Farrakhan’s “The Time and What Must Be Done” lecture series from 2013 can be found split into 58 parts on the streaming platform; Part 18 of the series states in the description “Why the Jews hated Jesus past and present” and Part 21’s description says it exposes “more of the Synagogue of Satan.” In their archive on Farrakhan, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) cites some of the following quotes from Farrakhan’s “Time and What Must Be Done” series as examples of his antisemitism:

  • “You that think that those who refer to themselves as Jews are the real Children of Israel? No. You have made a real theological mistake and some of you have made a theological error because you know the truth, but yet you consider your wickedness in promoting a deceptive lie.”
  • “The Jewish media has normalized sexual degeneracy, profanity, and all kinds of sin.”
  • “Socialism or communism is a doctrine they have to fight cause it ends their wealth and their power, wherever socialism rises, capitalism begins to die…So the International Jew is affected by the rise of socialism, it is in their DNA to fight anything that will raise the common man. This is why they fight any voice that the little man will listen to.”

These quotes came from Parts 5, 20 and 17 from the series, respectively, and the Journal can confirm that each of these quotes can be heard on Spotify.

Another podcast called “The Birth of a Nation Podcast with the Minister Louis Farrakhan” provides audio clips of various Farrakhan speeches from the 1990s and Farrakhan’s virtual message to the Black community in December 2020. In the latter, Farrakhan can be heard advocating against the COVID-19 vaccines, saying they were part of a “death plan” against Black Americans. “Do you believe Satan is concerned with vaccinating you?” Farrakhan said. “After all that he has done to destroy us, you trust him? Your trust is sickening because you love your enemy, and you hate yourself and your friend. How could you allow him to stick a needle into you, saying he’s helping you?” Various artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, removed their music from Spotify in protest of Rogan’s podcasts, accusing Rogan of promulgating COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. Spotify has a $100 million contract with Rogan for exclusive rights to his podcasts.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement to the Journal, “In light of the clear antisemitic and racist content that’s still readily available on Spotify, their content moderation team should be engaged in a top to bottom audit of the platform to remove any hateful content that violates their policies. The company also needs to move toward greater transparency around how it moderates hateful content. Serious questions remain as to how the company will fight misinformation and hate speech and what resources it devotes to content moderation, and these questions need immediate answers.”

Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper pointed out to the Journal in a phone interview that Spotify recently deleted at least 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” after reviewing them. Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a memo to employees that Rogan chose to remove the episodes after Spotify talked to him about his use of “racially insensitive language”; Ek said he agreed with Rogan’s decision. 

“They should do to [Farrakhan’s] podcasts what they did to Joe Rogan’s podcasts, meaning: listen to them and anything that has antisemitic and other inappropriate material, they should be taken off of Spotify immediately,” Cooper said. “That’s the standard they have now set.” He added that “even a cursory look at the headlines of some of those speeches would demand by their [Spotify’s] own set of standards that they be removed” and called Farrakhan “the godfather of antisemitism for the last generation of the United States.”

Stop Antisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “When it comes to Jews, there are always double standards. Why is Spotify allowing Farrakhan’s hateful rhetoric to remain on its platform? Why aren’t Joe Rogan’s features of known antisemite Abby Martin being removed? We’re horrified to see that once again, when it comes to the Jewish people, corporations turn a blind eye.”

Spotify did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment. 

Singer India Arie also removed her music from Spotify after a video compilation of Rogan repeatedly using a racial slur went viral. Rogan later apologized, saying that “for a long time, when I would bring that word up – like if it would come up in conversation, instead of saying ‘the N-word’ I would just say the word. I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing.” He added that “it’s not my word to use” and that he “never used it to be racist.” As for COVID, Rogan vowed separately to bring on more guests with differing viewpoints.

 

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