Spotify’s CEO said the company won’t remove Kanye West’s music from its platform despite mounting pressure to do so from a growing number of corporate leaders and news media outlets.
In an interview with Reuters, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said Kanye West’s recent antisemitic comments were “just awful.” But since those comments weren’t made in any of West’s music or other content that exists on Spotify’s service, there are no grounds to remove him.
“It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policy,” said Ek, adding, “It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not.”
Universal Music’s Def Jam label, which owns the copyright to West’s recordings from 2002 through 2016, has not asked to do so, according to Reuters.
Spotify’s position comes as a growing number of companies have severed their relationship with West and his businesses, including Adidas and Hollywood’s mega-talent agency CAA. Vogue magazine and the fashion house Balenciaga have also cut ties.
As Breitbart News reported, Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel specifically called on music streaming services including Spotify and Apple to give West the boot.
Mainstream media news outlets are also applying pressure, with Variety recently running an article with the headline “Should Kanye’s Music Be Banned?”
Spotify previously resisted the cancel mob when Joe Rogan became the target of a de-platform campaign over the popular podcaster’s comments about the coronavirus vaccine.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com