As previously reported, Spotify has chosen to remove R. Kelly from their official playlists and influential curated packages, such as Rap Caviar, New Music Friday, and Discover Weekly. Spotify has since decided to also remove XXXTentacion, being that he has also been considered to have violated Spotify’s new public hate content and hateful conduct policy.
XXXTentacion has been accused of many violations, that of which include facing charges in Florida for aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, witness tampering and witness harassment of his ex-girlfriend that he was originally accused of assaulting, and false imprisonment. According to the New York Times, XXXTentacion’s music was featured on Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist as recent as Wednesday (May 9), but has since been removed.
XXXTentacion’s spokeswoman, Aishah White, stated this:
“I don’t have a comment, just a question. Will Spotify remove all the artists listed below from playlists?” — in which she included the names of Michael Jackson, Nelly, 6ix9ine, Miguel, Fabolous, Dr. Dre, James Brown, and more — all of which have been accused of domestic violence, sexual misconduct and/or sexual abuse.
Here’s how a spokesperson for Spotify responded:
“As you can imagine this is a complicated process with room for debate and disagreement, so we can’t get into an artist-by-artist discussion. In general we work with our partners and try to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.”
The new public hate content and hateful conduct policy is still fairly new to Spotify. Stay tuned for updates on R. Kelly, XXXTentacion and other artists Spotify may target under their new policy.
