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ROLLING STONE FOUNDER FACES BACKLASH FOR BIGOTED REMARKS, OUSTED FROM ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME
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Talking about terrible combos.
Sexism and racism are a perilous and destructive mix. Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, recently used both in comments regarding women and black musicians.
The comments drew criticism and led to his dismissal from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Jann Wenner was explains why he left out women and Black musicians from his new memoir, “The Masters.”
He responded, “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.”
He went on to claim that Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield “just didn’t articulate at that level.”
After some heat he issued an apology, saying “In my interview with The New York Times I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of Black and women artists and I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks. ‘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 its 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.”
Source: Black Enterprise
