UPDATE: Jemele Hill said the report of her leaving Spotify is untrue. “People: A lot of what’s been reported just isn’t true. My podcast hasn’t been cancelled. I never asked Spotify for $100M. This shit is truly comical. Next week’s guest is: Sabrina Elba. In the coming weeks: Blair Underwood, Kasi Lemmons, JR Smith, Kenny Latimore and more. When I have something to say, I’ll say it.,” she said.
American journalist and former sportscaster Jemele Hill, reportedly parted ways with Spotify, the popular audio streaming platform, after failed salary negotiations, according to Bloomberg.
The decision comes as Spotify faces mounting pressure to cut costs and deliver profitable results. Despite being heavily promoted by the streaming platform, Hill’s podcast failed to amass a significant audience or generate profits, setting the stage for her departure.
The former ESPN commentator previously demanded that Spotify should pay a Black person a salary comparable to that of legendary podcaster Joe Rogan.
The demanded figure? A jaw-dropping $100 million. However, the journalist’s audacious request seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as Spotify reportedly responded with a hard ‘no.’
“What I would like to see,” Hill said in an interview with the New York Times, “is for [Spotify] to hand $100 million to somebody who is black.”
Jemele Hill is out at Spotify after daring the company to pay her or another black host $100 million to match Joe Rogan.
Spotify said no.https://t.co/5Q0PIJQLiE
— OutKick (@Outkick) June 2, 2023
Outkick reported:
Despite the platform endlessly promoting her show on its homepage, Hill’s podcast does not rank among the top 200.
Jemele titled her podcast Jemele Hill is Unbothered, though the show was anything but a podcast from an unbothered host.
In fact, she built the show around the hypothesis of how bothered she is with the state of the country. Specifically, how racist and white America is.
We better pay a black host Rogan-money or will be called racist. That was the conclusion Hill hoped her employer would draw upon her challenge.
However, Spotify didn’t comply. See, there is not a black podcaster worth a Joe Rogan-type salary. Nor is there another white podcaster worth $100 million.
There is only one podcaster who is, and it’s the only podcaster who does: Joe Rogan.
Rogan didn’t secure a nine-figure deal because of his whiteness. Spotify issued such terms to meet his expanding market demand.
Hill has no such market.