Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner has faced criticism for making racist statements in a recent interview with the New York Times.
During his chat, Wenner was questioned about the absence of female or Black artists in his latest book, ‘Masters.’ He said in his response:
“The selection was not a deliberate selection. It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple 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.”
Jann further explained his point:
“It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. 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.”
Wenner went on to talk about why people of color were not included in his book:
“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. You know, just for public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism.”
He was taken off the board of directors of the Rock Hall the day after he made controversial comments. This was confirmed by a short statement from the Rock Hall. The Montclair Literary Festival also canceled Wenner’s scheduled appearance on September 28 to promote his book, ‘Masters’ by citing ‘several reasons.’
