Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner has been ousted from his position on the Board of Directors of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation, reports Rolling Stone. The news was announced on Saturday, following an interview with The New York Times, where he made widely criticized comments about Black and female musicians, alongside revealing other questionable editorial decisions.
Wenner is promoting his book, The Masters, which features interviews with influential artists, such as Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, John Lennon, and Bruce Springsteen — none of the artists featured are female or non-white. In the Times interview with Wenner that published on Friday, he said that Black and also female musicians “didn’t articulate at the level” of the white male musicians in his tome.
On Saturday, a rep from the Rock Hall sent a statement to Rolling Stone: “Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.” No explanation was given. A rep for the Rock Hall did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for further comment.
Wenner co-founded the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, which opened in 1987. He served as the chairman until 2020. Wenner is not part of the board of the affiliated museum.
In the interview with the Times’ David Marchese, Wenner was asked about the exclusion of people of color or female artists.
“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,” Wenner said. “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. 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.
“I mean, look at what Pete Townshend was writing about, or Jagger, or any of them,” he continued. “They were deep things about a particular generation, a particular spirit and a particular attitude about rock ’n’ roll. Not that the others weren’t, but these were the ones that could really articulate it.”
Read the full story at Rolling Stone. Find the above mentioned interview with The New York Times, here.
