Health experts and analysts have dug out Neil Young's past comments on GMOs and AIDS to expose his recent science-based posturing against Joe Rogan, Spotify's star podcaster.
Detailing Young's past views related to GMOs, economist Tyler Cowen, a defender of genetically engineered products, has observed that the musician's scientific "record is far from pristine."
Suspecting Young's stance against Rogan is connected to one of his recent business ventures, Cowen mentioned a 2016 incident in his column, "There are no heroes in the Neil Young-Spotify saga" where Young suggested that GMO foods caused "terrible disease."
"It is hard not to wonder to what degree anti-biotech sentiments like these, ironically, might have fed the current skepticism of Covid-19 vaccines," Cowen observed.
The columnist questioned Young's motives in the Spotify fracas as the rocker participated in launching a satellite radio Neil Young channel. Cowen reckoned that demand for his satellite radio channel could grow now that he's off Spotify.
Young has urged Spotify to remove "The Joe Rogan Experience" from the stream for "spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them."
Spotify purchased the exclusive rights to stream the podcast in 2020 for $100 million a year.
On 27 January, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Young for "standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies" around COVID-19 vaccines.
Louis Anslow, a technologist and curator of Pessimists Archive, also highlighted Young's album "The Monsanto Years," which has songs from an anti-biotechnology point of view.
"In fact, not only were GMOs not a threat to human health, they've been a boon to it, much like the insulin that has kept Neil Young alive for most of his life," he wrote.
However, Samantha Keller, a dietician, sides with Neil Young in the intense debate over the Rogan-Young saga, saying, "this has absolutely nothing to do with GMO foods or Neil Young's understanding of GMOs."
Amid the ongoing controversy, Young's 30-year-old view on gay people also emerged on Reddit, where people blamed the Canadian musician for spreading fear about homosexuals.
In an interview with Melody Maker in 1985, Young said of AIDS, "You go to a supermarket and you see a faggot behind the f***in' cash register, you don't want him to handle your potatoes."
Spotify has lost several podcasters in the past few days after Young announced the withdrawal of his music from the streamer.
Singer and podcaster India Arie expressed her intention to leave Spotify over the alleged racial language used by Rogan in his podcast.
Wendy Zukerman and Blythe Terrell, the creators of the award-winning podcast "Science Vs," also announced on Twitter they will pause their content as "Rogan's show leaves the audience with a skewed and inaccurate view of the COVID-19 vaccines."
Renowned singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell also removed her music from Spotify in solidarity with Young.