Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner has been officially removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s board of directors following backlash received over bizarre comments he made about Black and female musicians in a recent interview. Wenner was speaking to The New York Times about his new book, The Masters, which features interviews he’s done over the years with artists he deems “the philosophers of rock”.
The artists include Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, and Bono. Wenner was naturally asked in the interview by Times journalist David Marchese why he only included white men in the book.
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“The selection was not a deliberate selection,” Wenner responded. “It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple of criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”
When Marchese scoffed and asked whether Wenner honestly thought an artist like Joni Mitchell wasn’t articulate enough to take part in the book, Wenner protested further.
“It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses,” Wenner said. “It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni [Mitchell] was not a philosopher of rock’n’roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.
“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right?” Wenner continued. “I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”
There was an immediate backlash to the comments, and just a few hours later Wenner was removed from the board of directors. Wenner also issued a lengthy apology, acknowledging that he had “diminished the contributions, genius, and impact of Black and women artists”.
“The Masters is a collection of interviews I’ve done over the years that seemed to me to best represent an idea of rock ‘n’ roll’s impact on my world; they were not meant to represent the whole of music and it’s diverse and important originators but to reflect the high points of my career and interviews I felt illustrated the breadth and experience in that career,” Wenner wrote.
“They don’t reflect my appreciation and admiration for myriad totemic, world-changing artists whose music and ideas I revere and will celebrate and promote as long as I live. I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologize and accept the consequences.”
Wenner stepped down as chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 after 13 years in the position; it was the same year he departed Rolling Stone, having founded the iconic publication in 1967.
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