Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner removed from Rock Hall leadership after controversial comments
Last edited Sun Sep 17, 2023, 03:26 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
Updated 9:42 AM EDT, September 17, 2023
NEW YORK (AP) — Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and also was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall’s board of directors after making comments that were seen as disparaging toward Black and female musicians. He apologized within hours.
“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the hall said Saturday, a day after Wenner’s comments were published in a New York Times interview. Wenner created a firestorm doing publicity for his new book “The Masters,” which features interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.
Asked why he didn’t interview women or Black musicians, Wenner 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 told the Times.
“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? 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,” Wenner said. Late Saturday, Wenner apologized through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company, 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.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/jann-wenner-rolling-stone-rock-hall-4052a04c35ce13cc2b17b5455ebe6883
Good riddance.
I have actually been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland while in the city for a work trip over 20 years ago. That opportunity also let me see my state's (PA) Great Lake (Erie) up close (from the OH side).
Article updated.
Original article -
NEW YORK (AP) — Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and also was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall’s board of directors after making comments that were seen as disparaging toward Black and female musicians.
“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the hall said Saturday, a day after Wenner’s comments were published in a New York Times interview. A representative for Wenner, 77, did not immediately respond for a comment. Wenner created a firestorm doing publicity for his new book “The Masters,” which features interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.
Asked why he didn’t interview women or Black musicians, Wenner 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 told the Times.
“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? 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,” Wenner said.
= new reply since forum marked as read
REAL King of Rock 'N Roll:
And if facing the truth ruins his life, so be it. 
They did a bunch of covers including Bobby Sherman's hit -
And the Jackson 5 -
(believe it or not, Cheryl Ladd was one of the singers although she didn't go by that name until later)
ETA - they were heavily promoted by Kellogg's -
(now I'm gonna lose a brain file...
)
I remember when they actually did a live action film based on the characters 20 or so years ago -
(no I never saw it
)That one hurts.
The Hall of Fame always has grappled with this specific flavor of snobbery that doesn't know how to deal with anything outside what they determined to be The Great Canon, as fossilized sometime in the early 70s, and both pop and proto-punk artists always had that struggle to be recognized by the old boys club. And they wait too long, and people who deserve to be recognized pass away. I hate it.
One of the most eloquent and beautifully-staged FUs I know of was when the Velvet Underground were inducted in '96 - talk about a band that clearly should have made it in their first year of eligibility. But they dicked around even though guitarist Sterling Morrison had cancer, and no, he didn't live to see it.
So instead of playing one of their obvious "hits" (for varying values of "hit"
, the three surviving original members wrote a new song about Morrison and how much they missed him and played that.
I have always considered Rolling Stone as pretty solid and well-respected with its reporting, in-depth interviews, and other articles, if not avant guarde, having matured over the years. They never got click-baity despite their focus on the entertainment world. Brings to mind the Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show song...
But I would credit the writers for that.
He feels put upon to add what he apparently believes is a "quota" of a "token" woman and a "token" black, neither of which he insists could ever reach his lofty standards (being a legend in his own mind), but might "satisfy" the critics. And that is because he has self-anointed himself as the definitive authority for all that is the music genre. 
The irony being that his "master" Mick Jagger should be considered "tainted" because Marsha Hunt (original "Hair" cast member) -
and his "love child" (now 52 and his oldest) -
I won't even get into Springsteen's E-Street Band.
We know how to produce 'em.
She and Angela Davis rocked the big blowout 'fro!
https://www.essence.com/news/afro-then-and-now/#360209
They all have to eventually have the "Come to Jesus" moment like Strom Thurmond.
they are all unique in their own right. And when asked the question, the easy answer could have been - "Well... because these are people who I happened to admire for blah blah reason". And when asked why not "X" or "Y"? He could have easily responded, "Well that was not on my radar for now. Maybe in the future...", and leave it at that.
But he instead chose to go deeper and negatively characterize and insult 2 demographics of people who have played an integral part in the genre, and by doing so, ended up highlighting his exclusion of them (something the average person probably wouldn't have noticed and could have instead accepted the selections at face value).
And then he finishes the topic up with further condescension and ridicule with what he derisively feels would force him into instituting a self-generated "quota" to include what he concludes are "lesser" quality performers who don't meet some "high standard" that he has chosen to impose on the music world, being a self-selected definitive source of such a declaration.
In other words, no filters deployed.
