Spotify hosted a brunch one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration and donated $150,000 (£122,000) to the official ceremony.
The music streaming service held the brunch to celebrate the “power of podcasts in this election”, inviting high-profile podcasters Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro and Tim Pool to the event, although Bloomberg reported that Rogan did not attend in the end.
The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter also reported that the company donated the sum of $150,000 to the inauguration ceremony. In response to the report, Spotify claimed that “the donation aims to continue to expand our presence in Washington D.C. while furthering the goals of our platform and our creators.”
“It is in line with the work we do in capitals around the world to advance our policy issues, regardless of who is in power,” a company spokesperson said.
Spotify also issued a statement to Bloomberg about the brunch, describing it as “business as usual”.
“Spotify has long hosted events in Washington D.C. and other capitals worldwide, bringing together political leaders, media figures and industry peers from across the political spectrum”.
Rogan welcomed Trump onto his podcast, which is hosted by Spotify, in the days leading up to the election in November. The streamer’s chief public affairs officer Dustee Jenkins has said the episode is the platform’s most listened-to individual podcast by a “long shot”.
Other major digital companies, including Google and YouTube, also hosted inauguration weekend events, while Variety has reported that Apple and Amazon each donated $1million to the inauguration ceremony.
Trump was officially sworn in as the 47th United States President on Monday (January 20) and immediately set about issuing a series of executive orders, including one declaring that the country would only recognise two genders: male and female.
The policy has prompted widespread criticism, including from Lucy Dacus, who has pledged $10,000 for trans surgeries for followers and has encouraged others to donate similarly.
Ariana Grande has also shared a repost on Instagram Stories that reads: “Let’s be very clear: queer and trans people were here before Donald Trump and will continued to be here after he’s dead. Whether or not you want to us to exist is secondary to the simple fact that we do. The sun does not care if you sign an executive order telling it to stop rising each morning. It just continues to rise.”
During the inauguration events, Elon Musk gave a speech expressing his delight at Trump’s victory, before slapping his chest with his right hand and extending his arm diagonally upwards with the palm facing down. The X/Twitter owner then turned around to crowd members behind the podium and repeated the gesture.
Many people have compared the gesture to a Nazi salute, including My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero, who wrote: “Fuck this guy and every single person supporting this shit or wasting any kind of breath attempting to defend it,” he wrote in the caption, before adding: “Your true colours are shining through. #SmashHate.”