The co-founder of the magazine. Rolling StoneJann Wenner was removed from his position on the board of directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the American pantheon of rock and popular music, after comments considered sexist and racist, the magazine reported on Saturday. Variety.
“Jann Wenner has been removed from the board of directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the foundation announced in a brief statement, according to Variety.
The dismissal of Jann Wenner, 77, comes one day after the publication of an interview given to New York Timeswhich generated a lot of criticism.
The newspaper asked him why no black musicians or musicians appear in his next book. Teachers (The Masters) – which will be published on September 26 and brings together interviews with seven musicians: Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bono, Jerry García, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Townshend – responded about women: “None of them did “. They are not expressed in a sufficiently intellectually structured way.
“Try having a deep conversation with Janis Joplin”
“It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. It’s not that they’re not eloquent, but try having an in-depth conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin… You know, Joni (Mitchell) wasn’t a rock.” “N’roll philosopher. In my opinion, she did not meet that criterion. Neither because of her work nor because of the other interviews she gave. “The people I interviewed were rock philosophers,” she added. .
As for black artists, “you know, Stevie Wonder, a genius, right? I guess the fault is using such a strong term like ‘masters’. Maybe Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they weren’t talking level.”
“Look at what Pete Townshend or Jagger or any of them wrote,” he continued. “They wrote profound things about a particular generation, a particular spirit and a particular attitude toward rock ‘n’ roll.”
“I’m old-fashioned”
In this interview with the NYT, Jann Wenner said she was aware that her comments would upset some. “As a matter of public relations, maybe I should have included a black artist and a female artist, not up to that historical standard, just to avoid criticism.”
“I had the chance to do it. Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t care. Looking back, I wish I could have interviewed Marvin Gaye. He could have been the “Maybe Otis Redding, if he’d lived” man, he would have been the one. right man for the job,” he said.
Jann Wenner co-founded Rolling Stone in 1967 and left in 2019. He also created the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, of which he was president until 2020.
Source: BFM TV
