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Fact Checking Charlie Kirk’s Claim About R. Kelly and Spotify
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Fact Checking Charlie Kirk’s Claim About R. Kelly and Spotify

Yes, his music is still available on the streaming service.

Alec Dent
Feb 10
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R. Kelly in concert in 2018. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images.)

In a tweet, Charlie Kirk claimed that while the presence of Joe Rogan’s podcast on Spotify has been controversial, convicted sex offender and trafficker R. Kelly’s music is still hosted by the streaming service.

Twitter avatar for @charliekirk11Charlie Kirk @charliekirk11
R. Kelly is a convicted pedophile. His music is still on Spotify. The Left has no problem with that, yet they're waging war against Rogan. Tells you everything you need to know about these people.

February 7th 2022

7,959 Retweets26,885 Likes

The post received more attention when it was shared on Facebook and went viral.

Kirk’s comments come on the tail of a number of musicians and other figures pushing for Spotify to remove Rogan’s podcast for Rogan’s promotion of COVID misinformation on his show and the revelation that he’d used racially offensive language in the past. Rogan has a deal with Spotify worth more than $100 million, through which Spotify receives exclusive streaming rights to his podcast.

Following new charges against Kelly in 2017, Spotify decided to remove Kelly’s music from its curated playlists and algorithmic suggestions as a part of a new hateful content policy intended to prevent the promotion of artists accused of misconduct. Spotify later walked back the policy after artist outcry. Spotify now offers the ability to “mute” artists, blocking their music from appearing on your lists. Regardless, Kirk’s claim is true: Kelly’s discography has remained on Spotify that entire time, and is still available to listen to today. 

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

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Evan Donovan
Writes Reframing the Narrative ·Feb 10

I don't usually like points Kirk makes, but this is a good one.

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Bill Nelson
Feb 10

You can go through a lot of music and find artists or songs which are offensive. Remove the Mamas and Papas for the horrendous behavior of John Phillips.

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