Spotify Made a Diversity Fund to Make Up for Joe Rogan, Barely Spent Any of It

Do we all remember that time when Spotify created a $100 million diversity fund to make up for paying Joe Rogan? According to new reporting from Bloomberg, the money has barely been touched.

Early last year, Spotify was in hot water over its deal with Rogan. The megawatt podcaster’s transphobic on-air comments made some employees uncomfortable, and as Bloomberg notes, a video began circulating in which Rogan used the “N”-word multiple times. Last January, 270 physicians and scientists sent Spotify an open letter calling for a misinformation policy thanks to Rogan’s comments about the COVID-19 pandemic; one of them called him a “menace to public health.”

Bloomberg News reports that one year into the diversity fund’s existence, less than 10 percent of the money has been spent. Sources told Bloomberg that hiring was slow to start, and that since then the initiative has “suffered from shifting priorities.” One year in, Bloomberg News’ sources said that clear structures remain missing to vet and approve various pitched projects; the report cites an internal memo indicating that this year’s priorities remain undetermined, and a 2023 budget is still not final.

Read more at The Daily Beast.