Jemele Hill Is Leaving Spotify After Daring Company To Pay A Black Host $100 Million

Update: Jemele Hill says what has been reported about her isn't true. She says her podcast was not "canceled," but didn't deny the cited Bloomberg report she is "leaving" Spotify.

In fact, she states she is leaving due to "investment and growth" differences, which Bloomberg reported -- and is cited below -- was due to Spotify needing "to rein in costs and deliver profits."

She also says she never directly "asked Spotify for $100 million." That is correct. But as also reported below, she publicly challenged Spotify to "hand $100 million to somebody who is black."

"Somebody," as in one person -- meaning herself or another black podcaster, as reported.

It's unclear what Hill sought to accomplish with her tweet. Perhaps all she cleared up is that she would be out of the company but has not yet left. Anyway, you can read the Bloomberg report here, and our context below:

Jemele Hill is leaving Spotify.

The move comes as the service faces pressure to rein in costs and deliver profits, reports Bloomberg. And unlike other Spotify-distributed podcasts, Hill's never attracted a substantial audience or deliver profits.

Despite the platform endlessly promoting her show on its homepage, Hill's podcast does not rank among the top 200.

Hill is no match for 197th-ranked prof cal's audios anya >3 podcast, whatever that is.

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.

The episode list is filled with unjust hysteria featuring guests like rabble-rouser weirdo Elie Mystal -- and we do mean a weirdo -- who declared the constitution "trash" on the program.

Who doesn't want to hear two whiny multi-millionaires decry the injustices they pretend to face?

Based on Hill's ratings, not very many people.

Undoubtedly, Hill and her supporters will attribute racism to her exit. Bloomberg, which was given the information about her departure, racialized the move in the first paragraph of its report.

"Another prominent podcaster is leaving Spotify Technology SA, as the company reverses many of its biggest investments in original audio and loses yet another black voice," writes the outlet.

Calling Hill "prominent" and citing her race is how you secure scoops. They don't teach that in Journalism 101, however.

The divorce also comes after Hill tried to extort money from Spotify in the name of equality. In 2022, she dared Spotify to give her -- or another black host, but probably herself -- the same money as Joe Rogan.

“What I would like to see,” Hill said in an interview with the New York Times, “is for to hand $100 million to somebody who is black.”

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.

As we wrote at the time, "Hill’s demand exemplifies the problem with a racially-obsessed worldview. Hill cries racism whenever there is a successful white person who does not have a black counterpart. However, the top individual in any field, whether white or black, almost never has an equivalent. They’re at the top precisely because they don’t have an equal."

Rogan has no equal. Neither does Oprah. And companies should not have to match their investments into said talents to comply with DEI initiatives.

Spotify has shown a backbone in resisting such pressure. It's called prioritizing business over public relations.

More companies ought to try it.

In short, Jemele Hill is not a sound investment. She moves the needle on Twitter but that's the extent. Brands have been unable to monetize her outrage -- and she provides a lot of it.

Once, Hill leveraged her hysteria into a show called SC6 on ESPN. Yet no one watched it. The show wasn't any good. Thereby, ESPN canceled it. And the hour has thrived ever since.

(When Creepy Elle Duncan is an improvement over you, it's time to re-evaluate your schtick.)

Likewise, Hill hosted a show called (Won’t) Stick to Sports on ViceTV with entitled brat Cari Champion (we wish her producers well). That show also failed and is no longer on the air.

Perhaps one can best measure Hill's stardom by her book sales. Or lack of sales, that is. Hill released a memoir last October on her journey in overcoming -- wait for it -- racism. The book sold just 5,000 copies after two months, a number equal to some self-published cookbooks.

Suffice to say there isn't an audience for declaring yourself a victim and telling the nation they are vile racists -- be it on television, in bookstores, or in podcasting.

The American audience is bothered by Jemele Hill.