Bob Dylan’s Repentance Following The Scandal That Outraged Fans

Although years turned Bob Dylan into a timeless rock icon, they didn’t treat him particularly nicely. By the early 80s, the young fellow who chanted about peace and hope was gone, leaving his place to a middle-aged man who wasn’t fond of peace and didn’t bother to correct those who called him a ‘fatalist.’

Years of smoking and alcohol consumption also wore him out, causing numerous health troubles and making him look older than he actually was. So, there was no doubt that although Bob’s name had evolved into a cult figure over the decades, it didn’t change the fact that time viciously knocked on his door and left him with different scars.

After all his battles against time and fight to stay relevant under the spotlight, however, the 81-year-old singer had preferred lying low in recent years, when he thought that he could finally rest and enjoy his semi-retirement out of the public eye; things came to a halt when Dylan made the headlines with a scandal.

As you’ve probably heard, Bob released his latest collection of essays, ‘The Philosophy Of Modern Song,’ a few months ago, and shortly before the release, the publisher announced that limited editions of the book signed by Dylan would be sold for $599. So, the cult Dylan fans decided to have a go at the offer.

However, it soon became apparent that all of Dylan’s signatures on the limited copies were identical and had no authentic footprint. Fans only realized the scheme after different readers posted that the signatures all seemed the same and didn’t vary in any way.

So, the Dylan cult flooded social platforms waiting for an explanation, and Bob’s publisher quickly issued an apology confirming the doubts had sparked in the fans’ minds: The signatures weren’t authentic.

It was soon disclosed that Dylan used an autopen to sign all of the books, which angered the fans who paid hundreds of dollars for the book. So, the rocker decided to issue an apology, much like his publisher, and discuss how his vertigo and the pandemic had gotten in his way to sign each and every one of his literary works and how much he regretted this action.

Dylan’s apology and regret for using autopen stated:

“To my fans and followers, I’ve been made aware that there’s some controversy about signatures on some of my recent artwork prints and on a limited edition of ‘Philosophy Of Modern Song.’ I’ve hand-signed each and every art print over the years, and there’s never been a problem

However, in 2019, I had a bad case of vertigo, and it continued into the pandemic years. It takes a crew of five working in close quarters with me to help enable these signing sessions, and we could not find a safe and workable way to complete what I needed to do while the virus was raging. So, during the pandemic, it was impossible to sign anything, and vertigo didn’t h.elp

With contractual deadlines looming, the idea of using an auto-pen was suggested to me, along with the assurance that this kind of thing is done ‘all the time’ in the art and literary worlds.Using a machine was an error in judgment, and I want to rectify it immediately. I’m working with Simon & Schuster and my gallery partners to do just that. With my deepest regrets, Bob Dylan.”

To be fair, the rocker is 81 years old, and as I previously stated, years didn’t treat him particularly nicely and left him with various health problems, most recently, vertigo. So, signing hundreds of books would be truly tiring for the aged singer.

However, fans also have a point since if Dylan was facing health problems and struggled with the pandemic, he and the publishers should’ve known better and maybe dropped the number of signed books to an amount that the rock icon could have signed easily with no major trouble.