Rumble CEO: Hey, Joe Rogan. How would you like $100 million?

AP Photo/Gregory Payan

This morning we looked at Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s stubborn refusal to cancel Joe Rogan, even after someone compiled a number of instances of Rogan using the n-word on his show at various times over the years. There was still plenty of speculation going around as to whether Ek would eventually have to cave to the progressive masses and dump Rogan’s incredibly popular podcast, but he didn’t seem to be leaning in that direction. Now, however, Rogan’s options have suddenly expanded and in a potentially very lucrative fashion. Earlier today, someone from the media platform Rumble tweeted an offer to Rogan from Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski that might wind up being too good to say “no” to. He’s offering a four year, $100 million deal for Rogan to move his show and his entire catalog to Rumble, including the ones that have been deleted if he wishes.

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This wasn’t just some seat-of-the-pants offer that Pavlovski came up with overnight after Rogan ran into issues at Spotify. The Rumble CEO had already gone out on Twitter last October with an indication that he had his eyes on Rogan and would be more than willing to welcome him aboard.

Once the offer had been made public today, Pavlovski also retweeted Dinesh D’Souza proclaiming that Rumble might be the last safe bastion of free speech and suggested that Rogan should probably make the jump.

I haven’t seen any word yet about Rogan making a decision regarding this offer, but I’m guessing he will want to think over all of the angles carefully. Turning down $25 million per year for at least four years might be difficult for anyone. And he’s obviously being offered all of the free speech he can dish out, which could also be very tempting.

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With that said, however, there are a couple of other considerations that might lead him to hesitate. First of all, Daniel Ek has really hung himself out on the line for Rogan so far. When the progressive mob was rallying their forces to cancel Rogan and, if necessary (in their minds) Spotify as well, Ek held firm. And it’s not as if he’s been bashing Rogan in the press, either. Yes, he said he disapproved of the old shows where Rogan used the n-word, but Rogan has already said he regrets it, he was “stupid” for saying it, etc. In fact, he said that before Ek did.

Also, some people like D’Souza are bringing up the fact that Rogan had a number of episodes deleted off of Spotify. But, again, that was his decision as well. All Ek did was say that he “agreed” with the decision to remove the content. He didn’t just yank it off the platform and pull the rug out from under Rogan.

Those deleted episodes bring up another pertinent point. Would Rogan actually agree to republish the deleted episodes on Rumble? He’s already publicly stated that he regrets publishing them and apologized for it. If he turns around and puts them back up on Rumble, it leaves him looking like he only pulled them because he “got caught” and he wasn’t really sorry at all. Also, free speech questions aside, it leaves both Rogan and Rumble looking as if they have no problem with the use of that language. (I’m not saying they have to disapprove of discussions of words like that, but it’s not hard to predict how that plays out in the press.)

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So yes, it’s a lot of money. And I’m sure that Pavlovski is sincere in his offer and his willingness to not put any limits on the speech of the content creators on his platform. He would probably turn a tidy profit from having Rogan’s show under his banner and Joe Rogan would make some serious bank off of the deal. All I’m saying is that it’s probably a lot more complicated than some might infer from a single tweet including a nine-figure offer.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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